Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The City's Initial Results!

2008-04-27T15:54:00.009-04:00

SEEDS presented our baseline inventory findings to the Commissioners of the City of Traverse City at their regular meeting, March 24, 7pm. This inventory included data from 2005 on electricity and natural gas consumption; fleet and commuter vehicle-miles; and solid waste generation.

The City’s municipal operations - including community services - emit over 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents each year. This number is quite large compared to other municipalities of our size only because we happen to control our own electric utility, Traverse City Light & Power. TCLP accounts for 95% of our emissions because it is generating power for all residents and businesses.

If we take the utility out of the equation, the City’s municipal emissions total just over 1,600 metric tons of CO2 equivalents that come primarily from:

Water and wastewater treatment and pumping,

Building inefficiencies, and

Street lighting. This means that electricity usage creates 80% of the City's emissions, followed by natural gas (8%) and gasoline (6%). Where to go from here?

First of all, you should be happy to know that the City already has plans in the works that will reduce emissions including:

LED traffic signal retrofits
Conversion to 5% biodiesel for the diesel fleet
Improved operating efficiency of the wastewater membrane bioreactor, and
Improved emissions profile for electricity purchased from TCLP by 2012.

With these measures in place, the City (again, not including TCLP) can expect by the year 2012 to see a 9% reduction in emissions and an annual savings about $47,000 due to decreased electricity consumption. TCLP has plans in place to return to 2005 emissions levels by 2015 and decrease them by 47% by the year 2020.

Though the City is implementing some progressive plans, SEEDS cannot recommend the status quo. As a mission-driven organization, we must advocate for Carbon Neutrality or 100% reduction in emissions. Therefore, we suggested that the City aim for a 25% reduction by the year 2012, which we think is quite doable.

How? Here are our Five Recommended Steps going beyond what they already have planned:

Improvements in building electrical efficiency by 15%
Conversion of Public Services diesel fleet to B20 (20% biodiesel)
LED streetlight retrofits
Variable frequency drive motors for water and sewer pump stations
Advance TCLP's planned 2015 renewable energy portfolio to the year 2012.

If all this were accepted and done, by the year 2012 the City would not only reduce their emissions by 25% over 2005 levels, they would also look at an annual savings of nearly $150,000, according to our initial calculations.

Pretty good news, I'd say.

Be a Citizen Scientist!

2008-04-18T10:04:00.002-04:00

You can collect important data about climate change through Project BudBurst. By registering, you can submit data online about plant-life you observe in your own back 40 including first buds, first flower, seed and fruit dispersal.

This data is being collected across the country offering scientists a way to better track and understand how plant species react to climactic variation locally, regionally, and nationally. The BudBurst website will help you identify plants native to our area, describe the stages of growth and report your observations.

Take it on as an individual, a family, or a classroom.

Italians Change Waste Hauling Habits

2008-04-02T16:45:00.001-04:00

The Sicilian town of Castelbuono, 10,000 people, has replaced their four rubbish trucks with six donkeys and carts. That's right, they are hauling their waste with donkey power and claim to be saving money as well as combating climate change. Their "garbage men" are now called "ecological operators". Found this tidbit at the Energy Daily.

Incentives to Purchase Energy Star

2008-04-02T16:36:00.000-04:00

In addition to encouraging individuals to use energy efficient light bulbs, Marple Township in Pennsylvania announced that they would wave collection fees on old appliances for residents who replace major appliances with an Energy Star appliance.

They have also made watt meters available at their library for residents to check out and test the energy use of their own appliances.

This Township of 24,000 residents has a lot of good ideas and has powered their traffic lights with 100% renewable energy sources since 2004.

Want to Know Your Own Carbon Footprint?

2008-04-02T09:44:00.003-04:00

There are several helpful websites out there to help you measure your personal greenhouse gas emissions and the EPA has a webpage that lists them comprehensively. Try a few out for yourself!

You can also take measure of your ecological footprint, which is a bit more comprehensive and will tell you how many planets we would need if everyone lived like you. Assuming you are a resident of the United States, like myself, I can virtually guarantee that we would need more than the one beautiful blue one we've got. Try this quiz from Redefining Progress.

Seems we have a lot of work to do...

Switching to LED Holiday Lights

2008-03-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

According to a paper from Energy Star, LED holiday lights draw 0.04 watts per bulb, 90% less than tradition incandescent holiday lights. This translates into immediate electricity cost savings.

Here's a thought experiment for our downtown:
If the Traverse City DDA spent $7,432 last year on holiday lighting and the price of electric doesn't change, changing to LED lights would save them $6,689 / year . Factoring the initial cost of purchasing the new LED bulbs equates to a 8.2 year payback period. Given that electricity rates are projected to go up by 1 to 2 cents over next 8 years, the payback would improve by 1 to 2 more years. Factor in the cost of replacing broken incandescent bulbs and replacing strings and LEDs become even more favorable.

Funny Video

2008-03-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

Warning: British butts featured

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1793280

Traffic Calming

2008-03-28T10:27:00.000-04:00

Eliminating stop signs at many intersections would help reduce fuel consumption. Stopping and getting a car rolling take more fuel than keeping it coasting at speed.

Stop signs could be converted to Yield signs and traffic circles could be installed in some areas. Some small European cities have completely eliminated traffic signals of any kind relying instead on drivers' common sense and defensive driving.

Truthfully, who doesn't favor a "rolling stop" at empty intersections anyway?

Centre Ice Fitness Becomes Carbon Neutral

2008-03-18T10:16:00.001-04:00

Traverse City now has its first carbon neutral fitness club. Centre Ice Fitness is offsetting its yearly CO2 emissions through the carbon offset provider www.4Offsets.com, located in Ann Arbor. 4Offsets helps individuals, small and medium sized businesses trade emission offset credits.

The fitness club (not the ice rink) is offsetting 39 Tons of CO2 representing their annual usage of electricity and gas.

Give Us Your Reduction Ideas

2007-11-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

We are still in the throws of collecting data about our current emissions...more on those numbers soon. As the historical data comes in, we'd like to start thinking about the future!

Do you have any ideas to reduce our collective emissions? Use this blog as a forum for presenting your ideas - anything from what you've seen in other cities to the craziest ideas you can dream up. We'll analyze each idea for its reduction impact.

Mandatory 4-day work-weeks to reduce commutes? Changes to the tax law or the building code? Free compost bins to every household? This is the time for thinking big...we'll get back to reality soon enough.

April in Boston

2007-10-07T22:29:00.000-04:00

Boston became the first city in the nation to implement green building zoning, requiring large private development to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards at a “certifiable” level. The city is also the largest municipal purchaser of renewable energy and biodiesel in New England. Boston has been recognized as the “7th Most Sustainable City” in the nation by SustainLane, a national organization dedicated to promoting best practices in environmental sustainability.

In April, it was declared that Boston will strengthening its emissions reduction goals from 7% below 1990 levels by 2012, to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The city will do this through a variety of measures including the promotion of conservation and energy efficiency, utilizing renewable resources, and stepping up recycling.

Project Update: end of September

2007-09-25T11:39:00.000-04:00

We've separated this inventory into three categories to help manage the information.

The City Municipal Inventory: This includes all the information from and about City of TC municipal operations and responsibilities.
The County Municipal Inventory: This includes all the information from and about Grand Traverse County municipal operations and responsibilities.
The Community Inventory: This includes information about all residents, businesses and visitors in GT County.

City Update:

We met with department heads to introduce the data reporting forms and start the formation of the City Climate Team who will help us identify particular areas to collect more information about and also fill in any gray areas we find.
Employee commuter surveys have been distributed and will tell us how much employees travel - and how much fuel they burn - to get to work.

County Update:

Employee commuter surveys have been distributed and will tell us how much employees travel - and how much fuel they burn - to get to work.
Key staff are filling out reporting forms to tell us about fuel consumption for the County's fleet, heating and cooling buildings, and more.

Community Update:

We are meeting with key individuals who hold important data including representatives from the utility companies that service our region, the Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Governments and the Resource Recovery office.
As we move through the list we will also meet with others who have important transportation, tourism, and agriculture data.

After collecting the initial data sets, we will start the formation of Climate Teams for each of these three project categories. The Climate Teams will help direct the collection of important data sets that can be analyzed to give us information that will enable all of us to make 'cooler' choices for our future.

We have been fortunate to find people very willing to work with us and provide data and contacts. Even better, we've found people and departments are actively taking actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions already.

Clean Air, Clean Water, & a Cool Planet!

Project Introduction

2007-08-26T13:24:00.000-04:00

On Jan 15 of this year, the Traverse City Commissioners unanimously joined hundreds of cities across the nation - including Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Marquette - in giving support to the US Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement. This agreement calls for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below 1990 levels by 2012.

Both the City of TC and Grand Traverse County have decided to take measure of our current GHG emissions by working with an organization called ICLEI: Local Governments For Sustainability, on their Cities for Climate Protection campaign. This international campaign works with local governments worldwide to achieve quantifiable reductions in GHG emissions. The ICLEI methodology provides a simple, standardized way to measure, monitor, and report performance. SEEDS was hired to gather data and citizen input; we are truly in this project together.

Why is reducing emissions important work? Leaving aside global climate change and its causes and implications, there are many reasons to focus on reducing our emissions at the local level:

Cost savings through improving lighting, heating, & transportation efficiencies,
A cleaner environment with improved air quality & reduced non-point-source pollutants,
Enhanced quality of life with more transportation choices & a safer environment.

The hope is that after knowing what we are collectively emitting right now, we can set obtainable future targets and then obtain those targets. In the words of the July 24 Record Eagle, "The important thing is that the city and county will look for ways to be more efficient, and being more efficient is a good way to not only save money but reduce greenhouse emissions. That's a very good thing."

We agree and are excited to embark on this project with the City, the County and with all the residents and visitors to our region.

Who Is This Blogger?

2007-08-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks for taking some time to read this blog! I hope you check back often and continue to find it interesting. Let me know by commenting or emailing me personally and contribute to the dialog.

Some context: My name is Sarna. I grew up on the Westside of Lansing and I've lived in Traverse City for almost 7 years. I left Michigan during school and came home again for the trees and water. My studies focused on the relationship between people and their places. Why are some public spaces empty and others lively? Why do some spaces make us feel safe and others not? How can infrastructure encourage users to make wiser choices?

This research ties directly with my work at SEEDS, a nonprofit organization based here in Traverse City. At SEEDS we choose to work on projects that give us opportunities to transform 'wastes' into resources - whether those wastes are from ineffective planning or a toilet.

I love working for SEEDS because I am able to work in and with my local community to create positive solutions. Some of my favorite projects include

Great Lakes Bioneers, an intellectual and joyous gathering place for those meeting at the crossroads of ecology and social justice. Look into our upcoming conference October 19-21, 2007 at NMC!
Something Fresh, the CD & Cookbooklet that pairs Michigan musicians with recipes using farm market produce. Hear Daisy May, Seth Bernard, Glenn Wolff, Claudia Schmidt and more here.
Oryana Natural Food Cooperative's green-building expansion. Doubling the size of the store, the expansion team worked within a strict budget to make an efficient and beautiful building.

Of course, my current favorite project is working with the City and the County on developing data about our greenhouse gas emissions. Read on!