The City of Greenville should implement energy efficient improvements in its vehicle fleet and explore the addition of a sustainability professional, according to recommendations from a recent collaborative emissions inventory.
The emissions inventory study was conducted over nine months through a partnership between the City of Greenville's Environmental Advisory Commission and Duke University's Nicholas School of Environment. During that time, Regan Rosenthal and Maggie Patchett, both Duke University students, performed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories of City of Greenville departments.
GHG (CO2, methane, NO2) are produced by burning fossil fuels through activities such as driving cars and producing electricity resulting in entrapment of heat by the sun. The City, in recent years, has taken steps to reduce its GHG emissions including, but not limited to the installation of LED lights, purchasing fuel-efficient vehicles, and improving insulation in buildings. However, the study's recommendations include additional steps that can be taken.
Key recommendations from the study include the following:
- Implement energy efficiency improvements within Greenville’s vehicle fleet to reduce the sector’s contribution and the overall emissions footprint for municipal operations.
- Disaggregate data into individual records within ClearPath to better understand which activities by sector have the largest contribution to better select emissions reduction measures.
- If data is available, use the same process to generate a 2005 emissions inventory for the purposes of setting goals and measuring progress.
- Continue the momentum from this project by making sustainability a permanent fixture within city operations through the hiring of a sustainability professional.
To view a copy of the full City of Greenville Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Emissions Reduction Plan generated by the study, click
here.
