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Thurston County Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report

By Thurston Climate Action Team

Global and local concern over the growing climate crisis has led the Thurston Climate Action Team (TCAT) to conduct a community based greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory as a foundation for regional climate action planning. Using a community GHG inventory protocol developed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) USA, TCAT gathered data for the 2010 calendar year from a variety of sources.

Energy usage data was provided by Puget Sound Energy, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data by the Thurston Regional Planning Council, solid waste data by Thurston County, and wastewater data by the LOTT Clean Water Alliance. Results in each of these sectors was obtained for Thurston County as a whole, and for each of the incorporated cities within the county. TCAT then calculated annual GHG emissions for 2010 using conversion formulas contained in ICLEI documentation for its protocol. Here are the emissions for the county, broken out by activity. (Emissions are reported in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or MTCDE.)

The numbers are stacked up for the county as a whole, for each incorporated city, and for the unincorporated portions of the county. TCAT calculated per person emissions for each jurisdiction by dividing total emissions for that jurisdiction by population.

TCAT has presented these results to elected officials and mangers at the county and city levels, as well as to Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC). They provide a great foundation for setting GHG reduction goals. When TRPC completed its recent work on the Sustainable Thurston Plan, it incorporated into that plan a set of targets based on analysis and projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Those targets are: 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, 45% below 1990 levels by 2035, and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Next on TCAT's agenda is working with local jurisdictions and community leaders to develop and implement a climate action plan for achieving these targets. These emission figures indicate that building energy and transportation are the two most promising areas for achieving significant reduction. Work on building energy likely includes working with landlords as well as home owners to provide incentives for energy efficiency improvements. Work on transportation may include significantly increasing use of transit and ride-sharing programs, along with rapid adoption of alternative fuel vehicles (for example, electric or bio-diesel).

In order to monitor progress, TCAT plans to refresh this GHG inventory annually. The effort to build a 2011 GHG inventory is already underway. TCAT is also working with TRPC to include these figures in TRPC's 2014 Profile.

"This is not just about reducing - we hope that our local climate change efforts are about more than giving things up," says Graeme Sackrison, TCAT President and former mayor of the City of Lacey. "It should also be about saving money, improving efficiency and convenience, creating new jobs and opportunities for our residents, and generally improving our quality of life."

Thurston Climate Action Team was formed in 2007 by local leaders and activists to encourage efforts by regional government and businesses to address the climate crisis. Incorporated as a non-profit in 2009, it partnered with Thurston Economic Development Council to obtain funding for and operate the energy efficiency program that became Thurston Energy. TCAT has also organized and sponsored a series of community forums on various climate-related topics , has worked closely with Sustainable Thurston, and has promoted community solar.

For a copy of the complete GHG inventory report, for more information about Thurston Climate Action Team, or to contact TCAT, go to http://www.oly-wa.us/thurstonclimateaction/. (The report is in the "Resources" section.)


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Updated 2015/01/07 21:14:22