FAQ

Dyme supports solar energy projects. Here’s how these projects help lower reliance on fossil fuels:

1. Reduction in Fossil Fuel Use: Solar energy replaces traditional energy sources like coal and natural gas. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity, which directly displaces the need for fossil fuel-based power generation.
2. Significant Emission Reductions: Solar power systems produce no greenhouse gases during operation. By generating clean energy, they prevent the emission of about 0.5 to 1 pound of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, compared to fossil fuels.
3. Efficiency and Scalability: Solar technology is rapidly advancing, with improvements in efficiency and reductions in costs. This makes solar power increasingly competitive with fossil fuels, accelerating the transition to cleaner energy sources.
4. Long-Term Impact: Solar projects provide a sustainable source of energy for 25-30 years or more, continuously displacing fossil fuel use and contributing to a significant long-term reduction in carbon emissions.

By investing in solar energy, Dyme helps drive the transition away from fossil fuels, supporting a cleaner and more sustainable future.

Solar energy projects help reduce carbon emissions in several ways:

1. Displacing Fossil Fuels: Solar panels generate electricity from sunlight, replacing the need for power from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. This reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants released into the atmosphere.
2. Almost Zero Emissions During Operation: Solar power systems produce almost no greenhouse gases while generating electricity. Unlike fossil fuel power plants, solar panels don’t emit CO2 or other pollutants during operation.
3. Reducing Overall Carbon Footprint: By investing in and using solar energy, we lower the overall demand for fossil fuels, leading to a decrease in carbon emissions associated with energy production.
4. Long-Term Benefits: Solar projects continue to provide clean energy for 25-30 years or more. This sustained reduction in fossil fuel use translates to a significant and lasting decrease in carbon emissions over time.

By supporting solar energy projects, Dyme contributes to a cleaner environment and helps combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions.

Dyme supports renewable energy projects instead of carbon offsets because we want a direct, lasting impact on the environment. Here’s why:

1. Direct Emission Reductions: Investing in renewable energy, like solar and wind, directly cuts greenhouse gas emissions. These projects replace fossil fuels with clean energy.
2. Long-Term Benefits: Renewable energy projects offer continuous environmental benefits. They help build a sustainable future, unlike carbon offsets, which address emissions after the fact.
3. Transparency: Supporting clean energy projects lets us track and measure their impact. This is more transparent than offsets, where the benefits can be harder to verify.
4. Local and Global Impact: Renewable energy projects create jobs and boost local economies while also helping meet global climate goals.

By focusing on renewable energy, Dyme ensures that your travel choices support meaningful, long-term environmental benefits. Read more about our approach on our Impact Pages.

Dyme has a standard framework that we use to calculate the emissions from each trip that we then compensate. Our framework is based on industry leading standards and we are more conservative (ie we would rather over-estimate than under-estimate) the emissions from each trip.

For car rentals

Our Framework: The emissions of car rentals are 26 lb of CO2 per day multiplied by the number of days of the rental.

According to the Department of Transportation, Americans drive an average of 39.7 miles daily. Our research found that the emission per mile of a gas car in the US is 0.62-0.68 lbs depending on the car consumption, so we rounded to 0.65 lb per mile.

Driving 39.7 miles per day with an average of 0.65 lb per mile gives us 25.81 lb per day, which we rounded up to 26 lb per day of emissions in a car.

Since we don’t receive the exact car that you rented (hence, we don’t know the mileage range) or the number of miles that you end up driving during the rental, we use the above standards when we compensate for emissions from car rentals. 

For hotels

Our Framework: The emissions of hotels are 71 lb of CO2 per night per room multiplied by the number of nights.

Hotel emissions depend on the hotel category (from 2 to 5 stars) and the carbon intensity of the energy grid of a given location. Most clients are based in North America, so we use the carbon intensity average of North America as our base case region. 

By using the Hotel Footprint calculator and selecting some of the largest cities in the region, we got to an average of 20 lb (2 stars) to 71 lb (5 stars) in emissions per room per night. To be conservative, given that business trip bookings might be made in superior hotels, we use the highest emissions – 71 lb of CO2 per room per night.

For flights

The emissions of flights are calculated by multiplying carbon emissions per passenger per mile multiplied by the distance traveled. It is divided into regular and premium tickets as follows:

Our Framework:

Regular ticket: 0.612 lb per passenger per mile multiplied by the distance traveled (Economy and Economy+)

Premium ticket: 1.53 lb per passenger per mile multiplied by the distance traveled (Business and First Class)

We follow the methodology from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero of the UK government, a similar methodology to the Travel Impact Model (TIM) from Google, with the key differences being:

1. TIM considers aircraft speed, which we do not;
2. TIM considers the specific plane model, while we use an average from multiple models.

Our estimates tend to be more conservative as emissions per trip are slightly higher than the TIM. Using this study, we calculate emissions of regular tickets (Economy and Economy+) ranging from 0.35 to 0.612 lb per passenger per mile, while premium tickets range from 0.52 to 1.53 lb.

How we calculate the carbon compensation for a trip?

Each $1 booked at Dyme compensates for up to 1 lb of CO2 emissions.

For each airline, hotel, or car rental booked at Dyme, we receive a commission. We use our profits to invest in clean energy projects, and we calculate how much CO2 emissions these projects avoid.

To do the math, we take into consideration:

• The energy capacity of the project;
• The sun incidence of the location (for solar projects);
• The perfect tilt of the solar panels to maximize energy efficiency;
• The total cost to build and maintain the solar project;
• The emissions of the energy matrix in the location.

Dyme partners with multiple solar developers worldwide, with projects in the US, Africa, Asia, and more, to diversify the portfolio and maximize the carbon compensation for every dollar invested.