Carbon ofsetting

Calculate your carbon use and see how much can be offset in mire restoration and other projects...

The average person in the UK uses 12 tonnes of carbon per year

go to http://www.co2balance.com/pages to calculate how much the carbon you use each year and what it will cost to offset in donations.

To see the latest on Carbon offsetting and how the UK Government is acting to set national standards visit the site:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/carbonoffset/index.htm

Carbon storage on the moorlands of Exmoor - How much new peat accumulation is needed every year to offset your Carbon use?

World wide peatlands contain about 35% of the global terrestrial Carbon store (IPCC figures).
Exmoor has roughly 190 sq km of moor and heath with peat soils. This includes up to 30 km2 of blanket bog. In addition to this upland peat there is at least 3.5 km2 of fens and flushes on Exmoor.
Accumulation rates can be from less than 0.1mm/yr to more than 3mm/yr in the fastest growing bogs.
Exmoor's drained uplands are not thought to be depositing much peat, particularly those areas which are regularly burnt, but the areas with healthy blanket bog or other mire vegetation communities such as wet heath or fen will be laying down peat.
The Exmoor Mire Restoration project aims to increase the area of actively growing mire by blocking up ditches and recreating the conditions needed for peat growth.
Roughly 50% of the dry organic matter in peat is carbon but the carbon content of wet peatlands is considerably less than 50% as most undisturbed peat deposits are more than 80% water.

The average accumulation rate of 1mm of peat over 1 hectare of healthy moorland every year will give a yield of 10 tonnes of peat /hectare/year.

At a rate of 1 tonne of carbon locked up in every 10 tonnes of fresh peat - each hectare of moorland actively accumulating peat will lock up approximately 1 tonne of carbon from the atmosphere every year.

This estimated accumulation rate for wet bog on Exmoor is supported by evidence from other studies such as the results from a Long-term study of litter decomposition on a Pennine peat bog ... This found a rate of carbon accumulation approximating to 0.4±0.7 t C ha/year for the United Kingdom in drier heather and cotton grass dominated blanket bog (not Sphagnum moss communities). In: Heal OW, Perkins DF (eds) 1977.

The Exmoor Mire Restoration Project aims to re-wet over 1000ha of dried out bogland in the first 3 years of the project. If successful this will result in 1000 tonnes of extra carbon being locked up the new peat created every year.

How many hectares of peat accumulating wet bog will the Exmoor Mire Restoration Project have to restore to offset your annual carbon footprint?

How much peat is there already on Exmoor?

The depth of the peat deposit on Exmoor is highly variable but as a rough guide the figure of 10 million cubic metres (or metric tons) can be used as an estimate of the total peat resources of Exmoor.

The known peat resources of Exmoor

If there are approximately 10 million cubic metres of peat on Exmoor as calculated, roughly 80% of this is water, 20% organic matter and only 10 to 12% organic carbon. Using the lower 10% figure this gives a total estimate of 1 million cubic metres (1 million tonns) of carbon on Exmoor.

If all this peat was to be removed from Exmoor by oxidation, erosion, peat cutting or other means this would release 3 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Compared to the total UK annual CO2 production of 156.9 million tonns in 2004 (Defra figures) this is roughly two thirds of 1%.