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Spain: Virtual forests to cut CO2

Planting trees on secondlife to reduce C02 emissions. Although it sounds like a round about way of stopping climate change it actually works. Here is how

di Vita Sgardello

Spanish energy company Union Fenosa has launched an innovative means of reducing its customer?s CO2 emissions: planting a virtual forest on second life, the online 3D digital world that thousands of people escape to every day from their pc?s.

Planting a virtual forest may sound like a round about way of saving CO2. And so it is – but it works. According to a study conducted by Union Fenosa, energy efficient practices in households can save up to10% of total energy consumption per year. The energy company is now encouraging its clients to become more efficient by offering a free questionnaire online that not only calculates their energy costs and potential savings, but also explains what you have to do to become more efficient. For every questionnaire that is filled out Union Fenosa plants a symbolic, virtual tree and donates a euro to environmental NGO Accion Natura, who in turn destines the funds raised to a reforestation project in Brazil.

To date more than 7 thousand people have participated, planting 3,703 trees and saving 350 thousand kilos of CO2. So the virtual forest is a double bonus. It saves household energy by encouraging individuals to be less wasteful and plants trees in a real Brazilian forest.

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