City Council Minutes 2018 07 10 SP

Home Browse Search

City Council Meeting Minutes July 10, 2018 Page 2 of 7 Lea Yancey, Boulder County Community Sustainability Specialist, provided an update on the County -wide inventory. The final report was submitted last month. It provides a full accounting of the sources of GHG emissions and tracks information. The first inventory was in 2005 with another in 2011 and now in 2016. Boulder County is committed to addressing climate change locally. Carbon is now recorded at an all-time high. If we continue on this path it is projected that Boulder will have over 35 days per year over 95 degrees by mid-century. Studies show there are significant economic impacts of the projected future climate conditions. Yancey reviewed the methodology of the report. It is a full accounting of greenhouse gas emissions countywide for all sources including residential and commercial emissions, transportation emissions, waste in landfills, and industrial processes. She reviewed countywide emissions by sector and by source and those for Louisville. Yancey stated the County wanted to identify existing and new GHG emission reduction strategies. The strategies fall under six categories: building energy, renewable energy, transportation, oil and gas, waste, and other efforts. She noted some actions being taken by municipalities in Boulder County. The report concluded: buildings and transportation are 90% or more of all emissions; waste reduction is important too; countywide emissions have decreased at the same time the population grew; emissions reductions due to a cleaner grid had the greatest impact on emission reductions so therefore policy is important; and ongoing collaboration is key. Councilmember Maloney asked how they were able to measure the sources of electricity emissions and how solar on homes affects that. Yancey reported the information comes from looking at how much carbon is released in the atmosphere based on how many kW are used for the community. It can be a bit flawed as the solar installed in the County does not give us direct credit, but it is done this way so solar is not double counted. Separate information from Xcel does help identify the solar impacts in the County. Mayor Muckle asked how the aviation fuel use is tracked. Yancey stated the local municipal airports are allocated to those cities and DIA is allocated per capita and by assumption on how much air travel residents use. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton asked to get more detail on the allocation of DIA's aviation fuel usage and if it includes pass through passengers as this is material to the numbers for transportation emissions. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton asked how Xcel's new plan for more renewable energy is counted in this report. Yancey noted the GHG report is a snapshot in time and when the consultant looked at future opportunities they did factor in the projections from Xcel.