1. Town Facilities Benchmarking and GHG Emissions Update
Andrea Mott, UNH Sustainability Fellow, Summer 2018
Mentor: Rick Norris, Town of Groton, CT
Introduction
GHG inventories track the carbon pollution produced by towns.
Understanding where greenhouse gas emissions are produced allows targeting reductions and determining their effectiveness.
The state of CT has an emission reduction goal of 80% by The Town of Groton has not formally committed to this goal.
Objectives
Update the Town of Groton’s energy benchmarking of municipal facilities
Create a greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) Inventory
Make recommendations for reduction strategies
Progress to Date
Converted Town-owned streetlights to LEDs
Saving 67% energy and emissions (85.8 MTCO2e annually)
Switching two schools to natural gas
Reduced emissions by 27%, saved $36,217 annually, simple payback of 1.2 and 3.5 years
Energy audit of 2013
57% of town-owned building projects completed, including LED conversions, HVAC scheduling, installing occupancy sensors, replacing boilers
Installed three electric vehicle (EV) charging stations
Member of NEMS Network and Sustainable CT
Recommendations
Action Plan
Goal 1: Reduce energy usage and increase energy efficiency
Goal 2: Implement cost-effective renewable energy
Goal 3: Invest in electric vehicles to reduce fleet fuel usage
Goal 4: Make sustainability resources and knowledge easily available
Goal 5: Create a committed municipal team to reach goals
GHG Inventory Results
12,326
Methodology
Programs Used:
EPA’s Portfolio Manager – used for benchmarking building’s energy usage
UNH’s SIMAP (Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Program) – built for calculating GHG emissions for college campuses
Process: generate Town GHG report and identify reduction strategies
Data collected:
Energy: 68 buildings tracked
Town offices, public schools, police/fire stations, parks and rec, streetlights, water pollution control facility (WPCF)
Waste from municipality and wastewater treated at WPCF
Transportation: fleets and commutes
Municipal diesel and gas fleets, school buses, WPCF sludge transportation, and employee commutes
Obtain building utility data
Enter energy data into Portfolio Manager by building
Enter total energy data into SIMAP
Generate Town GHG report
Obtain waste and transportation data
Enter total waste and transportation data into SIMAP
Figure 3: Percentage of Groton’s absolute municipal greenhouse gas emissions. When normalized for weather, the reduction is actually 3%. The reduction is due to energy reduction strategies like LEDs and HVAC scheduling. The school fuel oil decreases by 47% due to weather, purchasing additional oil at the end of the fiscal year, or potential recording errors.
Produced 12,326 MTCO2e in FY17.
(7% absolute reduction from FY14)
Goal
Task
Annual Cost Savings
Goal 1
Switch all properties heating to natural gas
$ ,421
Goal 2
Install 1 GW of solar
$ ,000
Invest in 100% Renewables (16.1 GW)
$ 1,095,192
Goal 3
Replace 1 gasoline vehicle with EV
$ ,251
Replace all gasoline vehicles with EVs
$ ,668
199 Passenger vehicles driven for one year
324 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled
100 homes energy usage for a year
1,094 acres of U.S. forests in one year
Since FY14, MTCO2e was saved - which is equivalent to:
Figure 5 : A savings analysis was completed to determine results of investing in reduction goals. The EV savings are from the difference in gasoline and electricity cost for the miles traveled. The solar savings are from reduced electricity. Further economic analysis is still in process.
Town should adopt CT’s goal to reduce GHGs 80% by 2050
(2.13% reduction a year – from FY14 13,254 to FY50 2,937 MTCO2e)
Next Steps
Commitment from the Town to follow the emission reduction plan
Explore financing options like C-PACE, ESPCs, and federal grants
Hire an employee to dedicate time solely to tracking energy and identifying savings opportunities
Discussion
The Town is recommended to seize cost savings opportunities to reduce emissions, especially with the recent budget cuts.
The Town is recommended to move beyond short-term paybacks to tackle the long-term problems in regards to reduce GHG emissions.
The fellow learned invaluable information about energy policy and GHG emissions, molding a career path in renewable energy and policy.
Results
-48%
Total: 12,326 MTCO2e
Figure 4: To reach an 80% reduction goal, additional strategies must be implemented. The combined 48% combines the individual strategies.
Figure 1,2: FY17 energy usage by department and emissions by fuel source.