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The City compiles an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions every few years. The emissions inventories look at things like gas consumption, electricity usage, and trends.
Community-wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
In 2012, the City of Raleigh developed a baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory for selected community-wide activities for the year 2007 and one subsequent year, 2010.
The inventory includes:
- electricity usage by the City’s residents and businesses;
- natural gas consumption in stationary combustion sources by the City’s residents and businesses; and,
- commuter emissions from residential and commercial vehicles.
While the City may not have operational control over the activities, the activities within the community boundary can be controlled or influenced by the implementation of policies, the provision of rebates or auditing services, educational programs, and the choice of services offered to the community in areas such as waste management.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Update Report
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Update Report provides the City of Raleigh updated information about the emissions from Local Government Operations (LGO) and Community emissions.
A greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory is an estimate of GHGs emitted to, or removed from, the atmosphere over a specific period (usually one year). Preparation of an emissions inventory provides the City with an understanding of where Raleigh’s GHG emissions are coming from and serves as a starting point for developing strategies that can effectively reduce GHG emissions.
The City has previously developed GHG emissions inventories for the baseline year of fiscal year 2007, and in the case of the community inventory, also fiscal year 2010 . The inventories presented within this report update both the Community and LGO inventories for the 2014 fiscal year and discuss trends between the inventory years.
An emissions inventory can help with any or all of the following tasks:
- Identifying the greatest sources of GHG emissions within a particular geographic region, department, or activity;
- Understanding emission trends;
- Quantifying the benefits of activities that reduce emissions;
- Establishing a basis for developing an action plan;
- Tracking progress in reducing emissions; and
- Setting goals and targets for future reductions.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Municipal Operations
The City of Raleigh conducted a GHG inventory in 2010 to quantify emissions from municipal operations and form a better understanding of the City's emission sources. This inventory will be the foundation for a coordinated action plan to reduce GHG emissions, energy consumption and costs, taxpayer dollars, and improve air quality.
GHG emissions, measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E), were calculated using Fiscal Year 2007 as the baseline. The amount of total emissions calculated for City operations in FY07 was approximately 151,000 MTCO2E. This is approximately equivalent to 30,200 hot air balloons of volume (under standard conditions of pressure and temperature)!
The largest source of emissions by the City was electricity use (56%). The City Departments contributing the most to the emissions were Public Utilities (36%), Solid Waste Services (28%), Public Works (15%), and Convention Center (7%). Using these findings, the City will soon begin outlining a comprehensive carbon equivalent reduction strategy.