Wed, 03 Aug 2011
10 Million Mile Man (or 5000t Road warrior)
Have you heard the recent story about Thomas Stuker, a car sales consultant from Illinois, USA?
Mr Stuker has travelled over 10 Million Miles on United airlines, making him a super frequent traveller, not only racking up a great deal of flights, reward points and appearances on Seinfeld - what hasn’t been mentioned is that Mr Stucker has also has gained the “honour” of having the title Highest Carbon Footprint of any road warrior in the world.
Over his 10 Million Miles and nearly 6000 flights, Mr Struker has seen every corner of the USA and much of the rest of the world.
These thousands of flights equal more than 5000 Tonnes of CO2e emitted with his travels. That alone is a huge number, however to give you more context that is equal to the average annual footprint of:
- Over 300 people from the USA
- Over 1200 people from Mexico.
Lets hope that United Airlines, along with their PR annoucements and permanent upgrades, include some gifts for Mr Stucker to address this enormous carbon footprint, or that he has been working with car brand that have electric powered vehicles.
Your can read the full story here on AOL Travel.
Tue, 02 Aug 2011
Life Hacker | Travel rome2rio Travel Search Adds Carbon Impact Calculations
Tue, 02 Aug 2011
TNOOZ | Rome2Rio wants travellers to consider their green options
Tue, 02 Aug 2011
TechCrunch | rome2rio Adds Carbon Neutral Travel Feature With Offset Options Partnership
Mon, 01 Aug 2011
Vehicle-agnostic carbon neutral travel with rome2rio
The partnership between rome2rio and Offset Options leverages both companies’ technology expertise and desire to make things easier for consumers. Rome2rio users can search travel options across planes, trains and more – and make their trip carbon neutral. For more information on vehicle-agnostic carbon neutral travel, see more here.
Wed, 08 Jun 2011
Offset Options' perspective on "The offset option" by the Economist
Carbon offsets, The offset option, Jun 1st 2011, 11:32 by E.G. | AUSTIN
We recently read an article in the Economist which broaches the important topic of carbon offsets for airlines. At its heart, the author stated,
“…it would seem that if consumers want carbon offsets at all, they will want them at the same time as their tickets. If you want to buy offsets via TerraPass, for example, you have to make a separate task of it, and estimate your consumption. The transaction costs would be lower if you could add the offset with the click of a button and eliminate the guesswork. And if part of the point of offsetting is to send a message—that as a consumer, you’re willing to pay to mitigate your environmental impacts—offsets from airlines are a direct way to do that.”
We believe he got the point, and believe our service addresses very specifically each of these points.
In presenting all sides of the offset issue, there are some other points we thought we’d respond to as well. We at Offset Options would agree that the best way to reduce emissions associated with travel is not to fly. This is clear and obvious, however this position does nothing to address the reality that we live in a world where air travel is becoming extraordinarily common. The boom of low cost airlines across the world, is seeing a steady increase in passenger numbers, with a particularly sharp increase in rapidly growing geographies like China, which is experiencing an average of 10% year on year growth of flights. (src: China Daily, China air passenger growth to lead global market, 16/02/2011)
Many claim that carbon offsets are a way to give people an incentive to be cavalier about their consumption (src: The economist, The offset option, Jun 1st 2011, 11:32 by E.G.). However this is only one unsubstantiated claim of the wider issue.
The first step → inform the customer about the impact of their travel.
What we at Offset Options focus on first is informing the consumer of the environmental impact of their decision. Without informing a consumer about their environmental impact, a consumer will never be able to make the more responsible decision. Few airlines and travel agents undertake this task.
However, we’ve seen a few good examples lately. We might compare this to adding fat information to menus – you know you’ve walked into McDonald’s, but you can still make a smarter choice once you’re there.
Globally, climate change is a hot button issue; however, Airlines, Travel Agents and providers of any product or service have the opportunity to inform and empower their consumers.
Alongside this customer information, organisations must continue to pursue ways to reduce the measured impact – such as Southwest’s rounded winglets that reduce flight footprints, as mentioned in the article.
The second step → empower the customer to act
Once consumers have been informed about the environmental impact of their purchase decision, there is an opportunity to move from conscious consumer to engaged citizen by giving them the ability to mitigate their own carbon footprint by funding legitimate carbon offset projects. Those projects can be identified by internationally-respected standards such as the Gold Standard and the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), following specific sets of requirements such as additionality, the concept that the emissions reductions represented by the offset wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
We at Offsets Options go another step further by providing the customer the chance to choose between different suppliers and projects around the world, ensuring they contribute to a project that resonates with their own interests and values.
Third Step → empower the customer to communicate that they do care about the environmental impact of their travel.
People understand that the environment has to be dealt with as a community; companies have the opportunity to give voice to their customers’ concerns and actions in addressing climate change.
Without all actions happening together, little change is going to take place, we need informed consumers, proactive airlines and travel agencies and enormous progress in flying technology to address the huge impact of flying today and tomorrow.
Is this happening? Yes it is. And with growing consumer interest, businesses will increasingly see not only the environmental case for action, but the business value as well.
Fri, 03 Jun 2011
This week carbonexpo has been in Barcelona. We enjoyed showing the market Barcelona and discussing the way forward in the voluntary space.
Wed, 04 May 2011
Offset Options Research: How many people have actually considered using carbon offsets?
Continuing on the research Offset Options is conducting with Qriously, aimed at helping our partners better understand how carbon offsetting fits into corporate environmental strategies and consumer-oriented products, last week we asked a global sample whether they’ve considered purchasing carbon offsets. The global average shows that a whopping one third of people have considered purchasing carbon offsets.
For organizations considering the use of carbon offsets to provide carbon neutral products and services, we believe this research is encouraging news about consumers’ awareness and interest in carbon offsetting as a tool. With Offset Options technology making it easier for consumers to choose carbon offsets alongside products and services, we hope to translate that awareness and interest into tangible action. 
Of the regions reporting in, we found that people in Asia were the most likely to have considered an offset purchase, with 49% saying they had. Europe followed, with just above the global average reporting they’d considered an offset purchase. North Americans trailed with 15% answering “yes”, they’d considered an offset purchase.
Our sample includes 1000 people across the globe, with a majority of respondents in Asia, Europe and North America.
Fri, 29 Apr 2011
Barça vs Madrid: ¿Entre los fans, quiénes son los que consideran más el medio ambiente?
Continuando desde nuestra pregunta inicial en cuanto a la consideración del medio ambiente de la gente cuando viaja, hemos decidido entrar mas profundamente en los detalles en España, ya que es el sitio donde comenzamos Offset Options antes de ampliar las operaciones al Reino Unido y Alemania.
Preguntamos a 300 personas en toda España y descubrimos que los españoles (79%) tienen más en cuenta el medio ambiente, comparados con la media mundial (49%).
Tampoco nos olvidamos del tema mas discutido en España en la actualidad - los cuatro encuentros del “Clasico” entre el Real Madrid y el FC Barcelona - y los numerosos viajes y desplacamientos que hace la gente para poder seguir los partidos en directo. Preguntamos a los aficionados en qué medida consideran el medio ambiente cuando viajan y los resultados se pueden ver más adelante.
La encuesta incluye ejemplos de 300 personas en Espana.
Fri, 29 Apr 2011
Barca vs Madrid: Which fans are more environmentally aware?
Following our initial questions about peoples’ consideration for the environment when travelling, we decided to dive into a little more detail in Spain, where Offset Options started before expanding its operations to the UK and Germany. (See the our first infograhic on this topic)
So we asked 300 people across Spain about their awareness of environmental impact while traveling and found that the Spanish (79%) are more conscious than the global average (49%), shown in our preivous research .
And since one of the hottest topics in Spain right now are the four classicos being battled out between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F. - all the travel that is taking place to follow the matches - we asked the fans how much they thought about the environmental impact when they travel. You can see the results below.
Our sample was across 300 people across the globe, with majority of results in North America, Europe and Asia.
Fri, 29 Apr 2011
Offset Options research: Do people consider the environment when they travel?
Climate change is an issue that more and more people are becoming aware of and concerned about. Offset Options works alongside a range of organisations to help their customers and stakeholders better understand the environmental impact of products and services.
A number of our partners provide services in the travel and tourism sector, so before the recent Easter break, we worked with Qriously to get out in the community to ask people if they consider their environmental impact when they travel. The below results show this issue is important for many travelers.
Below is the result showing this issue is front and centre for many across the globe.
Our sample included across 100 people across the globe, with the majority of results reported from North America, Europe and Asia.
Thanks to our friends at Qriously who we worked with on this !
Fri, 25 Mar 2011
As part of our ongoing efforts to engage with developers locally, we are partnering with Seedcamp, an early stage micro seed investment and mentoring program, to help encourage and support startups in Europe who want to build social apps and websites.
Helping build the next generation of social apps in Europe
By Douglas Purdy
http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/483
Wed, 23 Mar 2011
Four reasons why the 2011 Seedcamp USA Tour rocked our world (aka: why you should finish your Seedcamp application ASAP)
(EDIT 25/03/2011 - with the annoucement of the Seedcamp Facebook partnership this should now really be 5 reasons.)
Offset Options kind of stumbled across Seedcamp originally, we didn’t know who they were or what they really did. To be honest it was late in the day one afternoon just before submissions were due for Seedcamp Barcelona 2010 and I was leaning more towards meeting up with friends than finishing this random application form. Fortunately, I finished the application and to cut a longish story short ended up on the 2011 Seedcamp USA tour.
There were obviously a few stops in between, i.e. we were selected as one of the winners from Mini-Seedcamp Barcelona (along with rockstars Robot Media), invited to Seedcamp Week last fall and were a selected as a 2010 winner.
And getting to the point, here are the top reasons the Seedcamp USA tour rocked our world:
1. ACCESS
(on the NYSE trading floor for the ringing of the bell)
A quick list of some the companies whose offices we visited and some of the many more we met in mentoring / networking events / personal meetings etc.:
Foursquare, 500 Startups, LinkedIn, Twitter, IO Ventures, Amazon, Microsoft, Sequoia, Google, MassChallenge, Sermo, Atlas Ventures, Union Square Ventures, NYSE, MongoDB / 10gen, AOL, Sandbox, ERPLY, General assembly, plus many, many more.
And in the companies we visited, we had more than just a tour of HQ - we had ACCESS to the right people. There is access and there is ACCESS. For the majority of the meetings, we had senior staff available for us to explore any questions / partnerships / technical questions you can fire at them. I have to specifically admit Google, Facebook and Amazon blew me away with this. Such openness, engagement and support from companies that have big things on their plate right now. This is not normally possible when traveling on Biz Dev and Partnership trips, especially when you are an early stage company (even later stage companies would kill for this!).
2. FEEDBACK
(vox.io & @davemcclure & Anil)
Being part of a supportive network is a fundamental element of Seedcamp. The mentoring, as always, was great. We had access to a few hundred exceptional mentors over the four sessions in NYC, Boston, San Francisco and Mountain View. This is particularly useful for early stage companies trying to work out how relevant the concept is to the US market.
3. INSPIRATION
(Seedcamp crew checking in @foursquare)
Meeting companies trying to change the world with amazing staff who can achieve the vision is always a privilege. Sermo, Facebook and Google were all kind of mind-blowing in their own ways. All provided us a perspective that I didn’t expect. Sermo was so genuine, FB and Google so eager to engage.
4. ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(pitch training @blackboxmansion)
A key take away is also the shared entrepreneurship experience. Starting a company can be an isolating exercise. Being able to travel around the USA and be able to get to know the other SC teams and the SC team itself - who are also on an entrepreneurial journey - was a once in a lifetime opportunity and an invaluable boost of moral support.
To see the strengths of our colleagues, gain their feedback and have very impassioned chats about different parts of our growth (often over a beer or 4) as people trying to build companies is one of the most valuable outcomes. It is very hard to manufacture this experience and make it genuine - but we did it.
I believe the SC teams of 2010 & 2011 are now connected with a sense of common purpose and will be providing greater support and engagement with each other, as we all work to build significant companies.
Some other standouts and quick mentions
> Sermo
This is the most memorable company visit for me on the trip.
The self-awareness of the staff but particularly the CEO, Daniel Palestrant, was amazing. This in one of the events that really resonated with me, in trying to build a business on a much more personal level.
So much discussion naturally focuses on the sexy elements of entrepreneurship - financing, biz dev and tech. The area of creating and leading a company is an area we have covered less and Daniel’s articulation was particularly eloquent.
> 500 Startups
The 500 Startups event was a standout as there was a delightful cross over of early stage companies pitching and giving feedback to each other. This was an open session where we received many frank but useful comments. I believe a few of the presenters made a real transition with their pitches.
warning - A warning to anyone going to this in future – Seeing Reshma Sohoni and Dave McClure taking turns pushing around each other’s startups is a spectacle.
On a side note, while at 500 Startups, Dave mentioned GoGengo.com for translation services. I sent their details back to Offset Options HQ for review, my team came back two days later saying they are fast, cheap and high quality. So we will be working with them from now on and are loving their service. These guys are Japan-based so our thoughts are with them on a personal basis as well.
> The END @SXSW
Perfect way to wind down at the end of the trip. There is no better way to finish a tour of the USA than the chaos of nerds and free beer as far as the eye can see and a last bit of bonding between the teams before heading back Europe. There were infinite sessions - Seth Priebatsch’s Gamification keynote was the standout.
From Offset Options, we loved the rising focus on Environmental aspects of technology and how this is becoming core business for global companies.
We have to give a shout out to Chinwag for great food and generally providing great support to Seedcamp @SXSW
If you want more insight into how to deal with SXSW for those who have not been, or those who wish to get more out of the event check out our friends at CultureSlurp
> Carlos’ (@ceduardo) Movie Tour of NYC
If you are thinking bring it, I want some of this action, Seedcamp Berlin applications are still open until 27th March.
If you want to read more about the Seedcamp USA Trip 2011 check out the following:
- Tomaz from Vox.io Part 1
- Tomaz from Vox.io Part 2
- Seedcamp Team blog about the trip
- List of teams on the tour
Cheers,
Luke & the Offset Options Team
Sun, 20 Mar 2011
The real process of entrepreneurship - techcrunch article
Lovely insight about how discoveries are made.
Had the same experience at business school - people waiting for their big idea before starting their own enterprise.
Looking forward to the book.
Fri, 18 Mar 2011
@tomazstolfa from vox.io - Seedcamp US Tour [Part 1]
Tomaz giving insight into the experience of being on the Seedcamp USA tour 2011.
Thu, 17 Mar 2011
BudgetPlaces.com
Don’t forget to check out Budgteplaces.com green travel tips and carbon neutral offering - in partnership with OffsetOptions.
Thu, 17 Mar 2011
Offset Options in El Periodico - Innovation Special
Mon, 14 Mar 2011
This is what Offset Options is about
Mon, 14 Mar 2011
Mixing music with sewing machine @sxsw
Sat, 12 Mar 2011
Hello Amazon. Wonderful mix of from @amazon team to greet @seedcamp teams in Seattle.
Fri, 11 Mar 2011
In #Seattle heading 2 Amazon & ms redmond #seedcamp
Fri, 11 Mar 2011
Mentoring at @ioventures #seedcamp
Fri, 11 Mar 2011
Seedcamp pitching @ioventures
Thu, 10 Mar 2011
@Seedcamp teams pitching @sequoia
Thu, 10 Mar 2011
Meeting the Twitter crew on #seedcamp tour
Thu, 10 Mar 2011
Looking for the failwhale (Taken with Instagram at Twitter)
Nice pic from our time at Twitter
Thu, 10 Mar 2011
Getting the inside running on the #windowsphone w/ @bizspark #seedcamp #microsoft
Wed, 09 Mar 2011
@seedcamp Learning about @microsoft dynamics. Getting insights 2 the future direction of ms
Wed, 09 Mar 2011
@seedcamp @microsoft in silicon valley
Wed, 09 Mar 2011
@psykosoft awesome pitching @plugandplaytc
Wed, 09 Mar 2011
Inside Story: 1001 reasons why @Seedcamp in NYC mentoring rocked
This should really be called the 1001 reasons why you should be trying to get on next years Seedcamp USA Tour.
To give you a feel for what is happening on our trip - here are a few of the cool people that gave us dedicated time in NYC either hosting us or coming to mentoring.
Sandbox Lunch, NYSE trading floor, MongoDB, AOL, Foursuare (Cheers #Dens), Union Square Ventures(thanks #FredWilson), General Assembly, Betaworks, Aviary.com ERPLY, Sulia, Producteev, Holtzman Communications, EHR Empowerment Consortium, NYC Seed, Bit.ly, The Hatchery, prehype, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eyeblaster, Zemanta, IA Ventures, Ovation Capital Partners, Rawlings Atlantic, Meetup, Bessemer Venture Partners, NewsCred, Basno LLC, New York Tech Meetup, Hot Potato, Legion Enterprises, stoweboyd.com, ShoutEm, High Line Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, CollegeHumor.com, AOL Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Allen & Co, Daylife, Warner Music Group, Genacast Ventures, Ganxy, Obikosh, Union Square Ventures, Google Ventures,Forrst, Glenborn Group LLC, Foodspotting, H4X Industries, New York Angels, The Hatchery, Index Ventures, GroupMe, TechStars, GO TRY IT ON
Wed, 09 Mar 2011
After a morning of 5 mentoring sessions, we are now working with the #Google #chrome team. #seedcamp
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
@hpique from @robot_media rocking it @seedcamp silicon valley
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
@Publisha presenting @google w/ @seedcamp
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
@Seedcamp team preparing for a big day @google
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
@grabCAD presenting at Google hq #seedcamp
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
@seedcamp meeting the team @500startups w/ @davemcclure focus = ‘design, data & distribution’
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
seedcamp pitch training in Palo alto.
Tue, 08 Mar 2011
seedcamp having lunch at #facebook hq. Just saw the zuck.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Offset Options with #seedcamp at Facebook.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
@OffsetLuke on the floor of the #NYSE just after seeing the ringing of the bell. #seedcamp
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Tamas from #garmz and #espinal from @seedcamp debating IFRS vs US GAAP issues at the #nyse
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Seedcamp’s Carlos Espinal and Phil Moehring - looking at ease as we roll into NYC in limo’s.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Offset Options on USA tour with #Seedcamp 2011
Along with the other Seedcamp winners, we are travelling on a trip around the USA to meet a range of investors, tech companies(young and old), mentors and other participants of the tech eco-system. Seedcamp’s post on the trip.
We have finally found some time to put together a few of our thoughts, experiences, insights and low lights (we will not mention too much about the drinking difference between the partying antics of US vs Euro start-ups) from the trip.
Keep an eye on this blog, follow Luke on #OffsetLuke or follow #Seedcamp. As we travel the USA through to finishing at SXSW in Austin.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Recent TV interview with Offset Options of Catalan TV channel - TV3 . Hope you know your catalan.
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Offset Options and the start-up process
We are starting the official Offset Options blog, to keep you up to date of what we are working on as we take grow our company. We will be having a range of exciting annoucements in the coming few months, as we roll out a range of new partners, who will be touching millions of users on a daily basis.
As we endeaviour to make environmental action for consumers more accessible and transparent, we thought we would share some of our experiences as an early stage company in the environmental tech space.
Also we desired to share some of the experience of Luke, our CEO and cofounder, who is travelling the USA with Seedcamp. Offset Options is a winner from the 2010 batch of Seedcamp companies. You can see the full list of winners on the tour from 2010 and 2011.
