We’re big fans of taking simple steps to improve home energy efficiency, so we were very happy to see the Chief Administrative Officer of the House (of Representative) take a simple step to mitigate the impact of the Capitol’s absurdly environmentally unfriendly coal power plant.

The Washington Post reports today that Daniel Beard, CAO of the House, purchased $89,000 worth of carbon offsets from the Chicago Climate Exchange - that’s good for offsetting 30,000 tons of emissions. Insofar as these funds and credits eventually find their way to supporting somebody’s new energy efficiency or renewable energy projects, all this is a good thing. We are, as David Robert notes, all in this together, so it doesn’t matter who does the emissions reducing - just so long as the emissions are reduced somewhere on the planet.

Of course, paying somebody else to reduce their emissions does still tend to ring a little hollow if you haven’t taken at least the simple steps to reduce your emissions too. According to the CAO’s Green the Capitol site, there’s some good news going on there. At Speaker Pelosi’s (D-CA) behest, both Daniel Beard and Grant Scherling - Executive Director of the Green the Capitol Office - have planned and are pursuing some pretty ambitious and impressive initiatives in a building unaccustomed to such effective action on energy and environmental issues. The Green the Capitol team has produced a video that provides an in-depth tour of precisely what our tax dollars are now doing on this front.

There’s even a pilot car sharing program that’s now based right out of the Rayburn House Office Building. So what’s the missing link? As a DC-based social venture, we’re particularly partial to pursuing the actual elimination of emissions from the coal power plant plopped smack in the middle of the city for the sole benefit of Capitol Hill. That accomplishment would literally have us breathing easier.

We also suggest that perhaps the Congressional staff and interns are left out of the equation. Some of the country’s most talented public-minded young people take some of the country’s most underpaid positions as Congressional staffers. The Green the Capitol Office and individual House and Senate Offices could take some initiative to help these thousands of staffers upgrade their energy efficiency at home (i.e. when they’re not in the House - get it?) As you can see on our site, taking simple steps at home can really add up - both in cash in your pocket from energy bill savings, and greenhouse gas emissions out of our atmosphere. It’s at least as good a way - if not a better one - to achieve a carbon offset as purchasing offsets in Chicago.

We’re inspired - and we’ll raise the issue on the Hill starting tomorrow. Want to help? Call your elected officials in the House and the Senate and ask their Offices to get in touch with us to see what we can do together - for their staffers, for our country, and for the collective good of all the world.