The ability to hop on a plane and travel to just about anywhere is an amazing opportunity we've gained over the last century. The advent of jet aircraft has only made this more pronounced as travel times are reduced and overall flight safety is increased.
Tens of tousands of people fly to different destinations each day around the world. Some trips are short and quick getaways, others are to the other side of the world.
But each flight makes an environmental impact. Aviation fuel used to propel the aircraft is typically a type of kerosene, which has about 11.11% more energy than gasoline per gallon.
In most cases offsets are thought of in tons of CO2. But in this case we're going to think a bit differently and offset the energy that a plane trip will use. This is because we'll be doing it through an incentive program that incentivizes zero emission energy generation from solar panels.
A gallon of gasoline contains about 33.41 kilowatt hours of energy and so we're going to use that as our baseline. 11.11% more energy would mean that aviation fuel has 37.12 kWh of energy per gallon.
According to sources online, most jet aircraft can achieve 100 mile per gallon fuel efficiency per passenger. This obviously can vary greatly by individual flight based on how many passengers are on the plane, but that's why we'll use the average.
So for every 100 miles travelled by air, we need to offset the 37.12 kWh of energy needed to take us that 100 miles. So if I am going to travel 3,000 miles, I need to offset about 1.11 MWh of energy.
Interestingly, that number is close to the amount of energy 1 SLR represents (1 SLR = 1 MWh of solar energy generated). So I can buy 1.11 SLR and offset my entire 3,000 mile trip.
Even better, 1 SLR currently is going for 10 ¢! That's an amazing bargain to support 1 MWh of renewable energy! For perspective, to offset a flight of the same distance using Delta's recommended CO2 offset calculator, you would need to contribute $6 extra to them to offset the flight.
So if you're feeling really supportive, you could buy $6 of SLR and offset 60 other passengers!
The best part about using SLR to offset in this way is that YOU get to keep the coins! Coins which in most cases were granted to solar producers ranging from small scale home rooftops to utility scale installations. So you're supporting the renewable energy revolution, you're offsetting your own fossil fuel energy use, and you're potentially saving for your own future as long as SLR maintains some value.
The great thing is, if you were going to offset anyway and give that money to Delta or some other airline to disseminate as they see fit toward their own offsetting programs, then even if SLR went to 0 on you, the net effect to you is the same - you're out six extra bucks.
But if it doesn't go to zero, and continues it's mission to incentivize solar energy generation for the next 35 years (40 total since it's founding in 2014), you'll have participated in something global in scale and massive in reach.
And that's something we can all get excited about!