Community
Greenhouse Gas Inventory
PE02.02 - Community GHG Inventory
A community GHG inventory is an accounting, analysis, and report of the GHG emissions resulting from transportation fuels, waste, energy usage in buildings, and other sources within a given geographic boundary. In this case, all of Columbia County.
A new GHG Inventory and regional Climate Action Plan is in the works!
In May 2023 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $1 million awards from its Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program to four NY State metropolitan areas. These grants will be used to develop new GHG Inventories and Climate Action Plans. These grants are in addition to $3 million that New York State will receive for state-wide Climate Planning.
The Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) will lead these planning efforts for the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area, which will include Columbia County. The Climate plans will include:
Greenhouse gas emissions inventories
Emissions projections and reduction targets
Economic, health, and social benefits, including to low-income and disadvantaged communities
Plans to leverage other sources of federal funding, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act
Workforce needs to support decarbonization and a clean energy economy
Future government staffing and budget needs
A preliminary report will be completed in early 2024 with the final plan scheduled for late 2024 to early 2025.
The information below is from a GHG Inventory completed by CDRPC in 2013 using 2010 data.
A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is an important step in planning for climate action. The data collected establishes a baseline and is used to establish goals and track progress toward reduction in operating costs, energy consumption, and emissions. The sources of these GHG emissions include transportation fuels, waste, energy usage in buildings, wastewater and water treatment facilities, and other sources.
In 2013 the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) prepared a Regional GHG Inventory using 2010 information. That report includes separate inventories for each county and each municipality in CDRPC's 8-county region. Data from that report for Columbia County was compiled in 2022, and can be found here:
Columbia County GHG Inventory Data from Capital District 2010 Regional GHG Inventory Report
In 2010, Columbia County’s per-capita GHG emissions were estimated to be 14.1 MTCDE per person.
MTCDE stands for Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalents. These CO2 equivalants include: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), and Fluorinated gases.
Key Findings
Excerpt from the report:
"In 2010, Columbia County emitted 887,245 Metric Tons Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCDE) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Transportation fuels accounts for 44%, followed by energy consumption in the residential (24%), commercial (12%), and agricultural (8%) sectors. Fugitive emissions contribute 3%, defined in the figures as the sum of industrial process, product use, and transmission/distribution loss emissions. Industry and waste sectors are the smallest contributing 3% and 2% respectively. Energy generation and supply accounts for 2% of total emissions."