Marin Headlands and SF Fisherman's Wharf hostels offset their carbon footprints

Posted on Friday, June 25, 2010
by HI - Sausalito - Marin Headlands, in Sausalito, CA

Although we strive to keep our Northern California hostels as sustainable and low-impact as possible, the truth is, it's difficult! With nearly 100,000 hostellers spending 230,000 overnights a year in our eight hostels -- taking showers, cooking meals, recharging their phones, and using all those sheets and towels -- our carbon footprint is a bit larger than we'd like.

We've been greening our hostels for years -- installing low-flow faucets and toilets, using energy efficient lighting, purchasing phosphate-free soaps and detergents, recycling and composting waste, and more -- but these initiatives will never completely mitigate our impact.

Recognizing the limits of our facilities, we've partnered with 3Degrees -- a carbon offsetting and energy credit organization -- to offset 120 percent of the carbon emissions generated in 2009 by the Marin Headlands and San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf hostels. Those hostels are two of our three National Parks properties. The third -- the Point Reyes Hostel -- is about to get solar panels and a LEED-Silver certified building through the National Park Service.

Our purchase of Renewable Energy Credits and support of the 3Degrees Verified Emission Reduction program will prevent the emission of 133 metric tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. According to 3Degrees, that's the equivalent of taking 26 cars off United States roadways for an entire year. (With San Francisco's traffic, we wouldn't mind that, either).

According to our calculations, it's also the equivalent of offsetting the emissions of those two hostels and their 250 total beds -- while keeping them happily intact and full of hostellers, just how you like them.

The Renewable Energy Credits program helps to support renewable energy projects, including those harnessing wind and biomass energy. The Verified Emission Reduction program funds non-energy projects aimed at reducing carbon gasses, including those capturing landfill gasses and cutting methane emissions from dairy farm operations.

To learn more about reducing carbon emissions -- or about how to offset the carbon cost of your flight to San Francisco -- visit 3DegreesInc.com. To stay at the Marin Headlands or Fisherman's Wharf hostels, check out NorCalHostels.org.