JANUARY 2019
As we start the new year, the Lotus team is excited about many of the emerging trends, new technologies, and policy innovations that state and local governments and forward-thinking organizations are exploring to achieve their climate action goals. During the last few months of 2018 the IPCC Special Assessment Report and the Fourth National Climate Assessment, as well as other publications and reports, provided several reminders of the urgency of taking quick action to mitigate climate change. While international delegations debated the specifics of tracking and reporting emissions reduction activities at COP24 in Katowice, local leadership in governments and the private sector are driving real efforts towards climate action in the United States. This month, we are excited to explore new ideas on tackling sustainability in the transportation sector and how innovative policy and infrastructure can support big emissions reductions from transportation activities. We also have an update on new organizations that are using data to drive decisions, and some news articles that we have found inspiring or noteworthy over the past several weeks.
Lotus Blog—Emerging Trends in the Transportation Sector
The transportation sector (which includes all forms of on-road travel as well as aviation, railways, and waterborne navigation) accounted for roughly 28 percent of the United States’ total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2016. Given the significant share of national emissions that result from our daily driving habits and personal transportation activities many cities and regional governments, often with the help of new technologies and emerging policy trends, are exploring how to reduce transportation emissions through infrastructure planning and policy development. In our latest blog, we take a quick look at the emerging transportation sustainability trends that are exciting us right now.
How are cities driving down transportation emissions?
More Organizations are Using Data to Inform Their Goals
Establishing a climate action strategy and understanding which goals and strategies are appropriate for your community can be challenging. An important first step of this process is determining your baseline GHG emissions and emission-producing activities; this will allow you to appropriately direct your resources towards the most impactful climate action strategies. We are seeing more communities and organizations that are interested in measuring their emissions impact in order to define and determine the most effective strategies to meet their climate action goals.
Lotus is thrilled to be supporting the first GHG emissions inventories for the City of Westminster, Colorado and the Adams 12 Five Star School District. The City of Westminster is interested in understanding both community-generated emissions and those that come from municipal operations. Lotus is completing a Global Protocol for Community-Scale GHG Emissions (GPC)-compliant inventory for the Westminster community, as well as a Local Government Operations Protocol inventory to analyze the impact of municipal operations. The results of these inventories will inform the development of the City of Westminster’s first sustainability plan, which is forthcoming in 2019.
Adams 12 Five Star School District, which is pursuing Collaborative for High-Performing Schools (CHPS) verification for a recently-completed new school building, is interested in understanding the impact of school district operations on the environment, and what impact their current sustainability strategies will have on their sustainability goals. Lotus is working with the District to collect data and complete a District-wide operational GHG emissions inventory that will be entered into the Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP) tool, which will allow the District to track their emissions year-to-year and compare their impact with other school districts and campuses across the country.
Our team loves helping organizations meet their sustainability goals no matter where they are in the process, and we especially enjoy supporting organizations that are looking to better understand their environmental footprint and the impact of their sustainability strategies. If your organization is interested in measuring your emissions and environmental impact to support the achievement of your sustainability and climate action goals, contact us for information on how to get started!
Inspiring and Noteworthy News
COLORADO NEWS
Many cities and states are exploring a variety of innovative approaches to reducing GHG emissions from the transportation sector. We explore some in our most recent blog.
Xcel Energy announced its intent to be a carbon-free electricity provider by 2050; it is the first utility in the nation to make this incredible commitment.
DMEA (Delta-Montrose Electric Association) moves to break with Tri State Generation and Transmission, primarily due to concerns about rising costs and a greater interest in renewable energy by DMEA.
Xcel Energy and United Power are both exploring new battery projects as BloombergNEF’s reports on the likely growth of the energy storage market.
Will Toor joins the Colorado Energy Office as its Executive Director to help Governor Polis reach his goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040.
The City of Boulder’s greenhouse gas inventory web page makes understanding the community’s emissions straightforward and accessible for almost anyone. It offers a great example of how we can inform and empower citizens to be engaged in their community’s climate action initiatives.
The City of Fort Collins has met their internal city operations Climate Action Plan 2020 goals three years ahead of schedule and has a new dashboard for tracking and reporting community efforts.
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Americans generally agree that supporting renewable energy is a good thing and our views on climate change are shifting.
Silicon Valley is stepping up to the plate to fund research on carbon removal technologies.
The episode ‘8 Bets About the Future’ from The Interchange Podcast by GreenTechMedia is a fun and thought-provoking exploration of the developments in clean tech and infrastructure that will shape our world in the years to come.
Puerto Rico considers a 100% renewable by 2050 goal, but reliance on natural gas in the interim may make that unfeasible.
‘Natural climate solutions’ (such as reforestation) can help the U.S. meet the targets it originally set in the Paris Agreement.
5 new congressional representatives that made climate change and environmental justice a key platform for their campaign won in the mid-terms, and seven states are poised to start discussing a climate tax in 2019.
Offshore wind projects continue to make more financial sense, and Rhode Island is paying attention.
Researchers have developed a carbon-fiber material from algae that have consumed carbon dioxide.
Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge highlights the recent work in Georgetown, Texas, to develop a virtual power plant by partnering with homeowners and businesses in the community.
To engage citizens in fighting climate change and reducing emissions, we need to focus on hope, not fear.
NRDC released a report showing the impact of the clean energy economy on bringing more jobs to rural areas.
While it hasn’t yet announced any closures, PacifcCorp’s recent analysis indicates that 60% of its coal units are uneconomic, and replacement with cleaner energy resources may save the company, investors, and customers in the long run.
Ten charts show the progress of 25 countries regarding clean energy, energy efficiency, sustainability in transportation, and efforts towards carbon capture.
At the crux of ensuring that we mitigate climate change impacts is engaging cities and urban planners in creating a sustainable and resilient future for us all, the UN Environment Programme states.
Not sure what happened in Poland at COP24? Catch up with this long read: Key take-aways from COP24 in Poland. Pressed for time? Get a short overview in this 4 minute video.
Net-Zero Energy homes are paying for themselves even more quickly than expected in many markets.
The New York Times published an interesting interactive piece that explores the methods that different states used to produce electricity, and how those energy mixes have changed since 2001.
Democrats will revive the House Special Committee on Climate Change, with Representative Kathy Castor from Florida leading the committee.