Originally published June 26, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified June 28, 2007 at 4:21 PM
Prince Charles goes green in his travels
Fewer chartered planes, more train trips and a royal Jaguar that runs on cooking oil have helped Prince Charles achieve a carbon-neutral...
The Associated Press
LONDON — Fewer chartered planes, more train trips and a royal Jaguar that runs on cooking oil have helped Prince Charles achieve a carbon-neutral household, an annual review of the prince's accounts said today. The review by the prince's Clarence House office said Charles cut his annual carbon emissions by 9 percent, to 3,775 tons, between April 1, 2006 and March 31 of this year. The prince offset those emissions by investing in an agency that promotes tree planting and sustainable energy projects.
The review said the travel activities of the prince and his wife Camilla plus their households — the Highgrove estate in western England, where he farms organically, as well as Clarence House in London and Birkhall in Scotland — are now carbon neutral.
The report — printed on recycled paper in vegetable-based ink — said the prince had reduced the number of plane and helicopter journeys he takes, introduced green electricity at Highgrove, and converted his Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to run on biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil.
Plans also are being discussed to convert the royal train to biodiesel fuel, said the prince's principal private secretary, Sir Michael Peat.
Charles was criticized earlier this year for flying to New York to accept an environmental award — one of 86 overseas trips the prince took in the past year. But Peat said the prince used carbon offsetting — funding the planting of trees or other activities that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — to balance the effects of his air travel.
The total cost of offsetting the prince's carbon emissions for one year was about $60,000, the review said.
"We continue to look at the most effective, appropriate way in which to offset," Peat said. "I'm sure we'll develop and revise the way we offset as we go on. But we're doing it the best way we can at the moment."
Environmental group Friends of the Earth praised the carbon-cutting prince.
"The fact that he reduced his carbon emissions by 9 percent in the last year alone highlights the potential for making rapid cuts in the nation's contribution to climate change," director Tony Juniper said.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
NEW - 11:33 AM
Get ready for Thanksgiving flight delays, thanks to New York
UPDATE - 12:30 PM
Biofuel used on Boeing 747 flight
Thanksgiving travel plans expected to grow slightly
Ask Travel: A free day in Prague

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
A little friendly competition between professional pie-baker Kate McDermott and The Seatttle Times' Kathleen Triesch Saul is handled with great taste.
nwautos
Local riders say they've seen a surge in scooter interest in recent years, mostly from people wanting another commuting option. Seattle now ranks as o...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Do you suffer from "sitting disease"?
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
374 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
210 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
171 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
156 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
98 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
95 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
83 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
82 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
74 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
66
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit





