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Lincoln City is one step closer to becoming a carbon neutral city with the completion of the Municipal and Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory study on the city government and the community.
Lincoln City Manager David Hawker briefly reviewed the report at Monday’s council meeting, which is available to the public in digital form and can be obtained by contacting his office.
As a member of the International Council for Local Environments Initiatives (ICLEI) – Local Governments for Sustainability, Lincoln City completed the first of five milestones established in their climate protection program by studying the city’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2006 and a forecast year. The subsequent milestones are to adopt an emissions reduction target for the forecast year, develop a local climate action plan, implement policies and measures, and monitor and verify results.
The report measured government and community separately for their carbon emissions, and doesn’t include the impact of visitors to Lincoln City, but includes visitors traveling through the area.
According to the report, city government produced emissions totaling 5,594 metric tons of carbon dioxide during 2006. Government buildings and facilities accounted for 22 percent, streetlights at 11 percent, waste at eight percent, vehicle fleet at six percent and employee commute totaled three percent.
“And here’s something to really pay attention to, water and sewer is 50 percent of our total carbon dioxide emissions,” Hawker said. “It’s a problem that if we wanted to buy our way out of – to simply say ‘we want to go to zero carbon emissions tomorrow by buying offsets’ – that’s about roughly a $30,000 to $50,000 a year problem. That’s not what I’m recommending. I’m recommending that we do what we can to reduce those emissions that are cost effective. And that will be the next major step that we need to take.”
Purchasing carbon offsets is a way that governments, businesses and individuals can reduce their impact on the environment. By purchasing a carbon offset, they make a financial investment in alternative energy sources, such as wind power, to offset the individual or organization’s carbon emissions. According to a memo from Hawker to the mayor and city council, the carbon offset cost for the community sector would be about $2 million per year, a move Hawker isn’t recommending.
The report shows community emissions totaled 383,654 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2006. Commercial and residential buildings are the largest source of emissions for the community at 70 percent total. Transportation accounted for 28 percent of emissions and two percent for waste.
Lincoln City has commissioned Carbon Co-op and Associates to do preliminary research and determine areas to focus on as their next step in their quest to reduce their carbon footprint.