Yahoo offsets "carbon footprint" with Brazil, India projects
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Yahoo revealed plans on Monday to be "carbon neutral" by year's end by backing hydropower in rural Brazil and wind power in India.
The Internet giant is following through on a promise it made earlier this year to offset an estimated 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases spewed as a result of power used by the California-based firm.
That is the equivalent of getting 35,000 cars off the road in the United States for a year or shutting down the Las Vegas strip power for two months, Yahoo's director of climate and energy strategy Christine Page told AFP.
"We want to achieve carbon neutrality in a uniquely Yahoo manner," Page said.
"In Brazil and India there is a growing demand for electricity and a lot of that power is coming from fossil fuel. We want to encourage wind and water power."
Yahoo bought carbon dioxide "offsets" from a hydropower project in the Brazilian village of Catorce de Abril about 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) northwest of Sao Paulo, according to Page.
Yahoo is also buying carbon offsets from a wind turbine project in eastern and southern India, according to Page.
"This investment was particularly important to us, as India is one of the most carbon-producing regions in the world," Page wrote in a posting at the Yahoo website.
Yahoo's announcement comes as major technology firms in legendary Silicon Valley go increasing "green" with earth-friendly programs and practices.
