Earthrace is about more than setting an around-the-world speed record – we’re doing it to both promote renewable fuels and inspire people to lead greener lives. The original concept was to promote oil alternatives, but my crew is all volunteers and since they tend to be very green, eco-conscious people, they’ve all influenced the project and other eco angles have been slung in the mix.
We now run Earthrace as a carbon-neutral project; we monitor our CO2 emissions and purchase carbon credits to offset it, we have recycling on the boat, and my crew and I eat organic foods whenever we can. At the end of the month, everyone fills out a spreadsheet documenting any travel they’ve done – by car, bus, train, or plane – as well as any fuel purchased for ground vehicles, their computer usage and if they’ve stay in a hotel. We then purchase carbon credits to balance it.
I’ve become a really strong advocate for carbon credits. While the system in its current form is not perfect, it’s a lot better than doing nothing and it does start to recognize there is a cost to burning all these fossil fuels.
I used to work for the oil industry as an oil exploration engineer for Schlumberger, a very high technology oil exploration company. When I first became interested in renewable fuels, it was because I knew about the limited oil resource that is left. I worked in the industry in the early 90s, and in those days, the numbers were already well known. We knew there was about 55 years of oil left and maybe about 70 to 80 years of gas left.
Fifteen years on, it’s exactly the same, except it’s down to 40 years now, with about a trillion barrels left.
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