Green Gondola Campaign Overview
Our gondola is a large user of electricity. Providing this free service to you requires more than 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year. As most of our electricity is generated from burning coal, this constitutes a large amount of greenhouse gas that contributes to Global Warming.

The Green Gondola Campaign, with on-site solar panels, is intended to

• offset 20% of the gondola’s electricity or more than 400,000 kilowatt hours annually, which will then
• reduce emissions associated with running the gondola

Think about it: most of our electricity comes from coal. If we power the gondola with on-site solar panels, we can reduce emissions by more than 400 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. That’s enough gas to fill up 383 Washington monuments.

Only by working together will humanity meet the challenges posed by Global Warming. The Green Gondola Campaign is a community-wide program, which will band our community together behind a common cause. It leverages the power of every dollar, and maximizes our offset with an economy of scale.

Carbon Exchange
The Green Gondola Campaign uses an innovative funding mechanism: a community-based carbon exchange. Contributions to the Green Gondola Campaign will fund the installation of on-site solar panels. The carbon dioxide offset by these panels is exchanged for each contribution. For example, if you give $100 to the Green Gondola Campaign, you will receive 400 pounds of carbon dioxide. You can apply this offset to your own carbon footprint.

Carbon emissions are like a bank. If you walk into a bank and deposit $20 with a teller, and then withdraw $20 from the ATM, you’re not spending the same $20 note. But your balance is reduced by $20. The same is true for carbon dioxide. A reduction applied to the gondola is a community reduction, and if you paid for a specific reduction of carbon dioxide, then you receive this amount in the form of a certificate you can display. You can apply this reduction to your own carbon footprint because you made it happen. The carbon dioxide you saved from the atmosphere would have otherwise been emitted in your neighborhood; it’s not some distant wind farm that already exists in another state. This is a tangible, real reduction that otherwise would not have occurred. 

Additional Green Gondola Campaign Information
Green Gondola Campaign Frequently Asked Questions