Pitkin County, CO | GHG Inventories and Regional Summaries
County and Municipal-level Community-Wide GHG Inventories and Regional Summaries
Lotus developed 2019 and 2020 community GHG emissions inventories for Pitkin County, the City of Aspen, Snowmass Village, the Town of Basalt, and Unincorporated Pitkin County. In 2024, Lotus worked with Pitkin County again to update the County-wide greenhouse gas inventory as well as the Aspen municipal inventory. Lotus worked with CLEER to write summary reports with findings from the updated inventory. Lotus also completed a 2024 municipal GHG emissions inventory for Pitkin County, following the Local Government Operations Protocol. Lotus managed the data collection and workbook creation for the inventory. An inventory management plan detailing methodology was also created for the client. Lotus and Pitkin County are collaborating with ICLEI to pilot ICLEI’s ClearPath 2.0 software to help train the County on the software and to provide process and technical improvement feedback to ICLEI.
Boulder, Colorado | Open Space & Mountain Parks Department
Greenhouse gas inventories
Lotus worked with the OSMP department to create department-specific greenhouse gas emissions inventories, a business-as-usual GHG model, and a GHG reduction strategy model for 10 top strategies. In addition to the data work, Lotus also created a dashboard and storymap in ArcGIS online to communicate the results of the data work and to highlight the sustainability work that the department is undertaking. A final report was also written to provide more detail on results of the data work and to expand on the top GHG reduction strategies that were recommended to the department.
Trailhead Materials Embodied Carbon and Visitor Behavior Analysis
Lotus worked with the OSMP department to complete a two-phase analysis. The first phase analyzed the embodied carbon of frequently used materials at the department’s trailheads. Lotus also developed a matrix with metrics such as durability, resilience to fires and floods, and other qualities to help the department make well-informed decisions on material choices when doing maintenance and construction at trailheads. The second phase analyzed strategies that are available to help reduce the emissions associated with visitor travel and waste production. A matrix was developed that rates strategies on metrics including cost, greenhouse gas impact, success of implementation, etc. One strategy that OSMP implemented was to install cameras at high traffic trailheads in order to reduce the high amount of vehicular transportation emissions during trailhead commuting and prevent trail deterioration. Trailhead cameras allow the public to view parking space availability at trailheads ahead of time and plan accordingly.
The trailhead cameras are publicly available here.
“Lotus’ work was essential in creating an approach for Climate Ready Trailheads. Their work has helped us to reconsider how we design trailheads, how we get visitors to the trailhead, and how we maintain our trailheads and access points.”
Edmond, Oklahoma | Resiliency Plan
City of Edmond Resiliency Plan
Lotus worked with the City of Edmond to create the city’s first Resilience Action Plan. The plan centers city-level action around improving on current initiatives and incorporating new strategies that the city can implement to improve resiliency over the next five years. Informational interviews and dozens of focus groups helped inform existing conditions, resources, and programming in Edmond, as well as the desired future conditions for the city. All strategies were vetted and prioritized by Edmond staff. The final plan is a public-facing dashboard that will be regularly and easily updated via a google sheet that tracks KPIs. These metrics will ensure that Edmond knows it is on the right track to meet its goals.
Urban Villages and APARIUM Hotel Group | Populus Hotel GHG Emissions Dashboard
Populus Hotel GHG Emissions Dashboard
Lotus worked with Urban Villages and the APARIUM Hotel Group to create a public greenhouse gas emissions tracking dashboard in Microsoft PowerBI for the Populus Hotel. The dashboard tracks real and predicted greenhouse gas emissions and offset activities from the construction and operations of the hotel over time. The dashboard includes functionality that allows for easy data updates, transparency for specific operations (waste diversion, water, energy, etc.), and tracks whether Populus has achieved their carbon positive goal. Lotus also developed back-end calculations for the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and documenting methods and assumptions for all calculations in a user guide.
preview of the Populus Hotel GHG Emissions Dashboard
Blaine County, Idaho | County-Wide GHG Inventory
County-Wide GHG Inventory
Lotus worked with Blaine County, Idaho to complete a 2023 county-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory. The inventory includes breakout tabs for the following communities: Hailey, Ketchum, Sun Valley, and Bellevue. The project updated previous inventories for the multiple communities and aligned methods and data sources across each community. The workbook also included a tab with activity and emissions data to be imported into ArcGIS Online allowing for easy creation of an interactive online dashboard to show the results of the inventory.
CORE GHG Inventories and Regional Summaries
Lotus is completing Pitkin County and the Roaring Fork Valley’s GHG Inventories and regional summaries; this includes inventories for the City of Aspen and Towns of Basalt and Snowmass. The work is supported by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE). Building off each communities’ past efforts, Lotus will help them determine how they are progressing towards their emission reduction goals. A data dashboard will provide the opportunity for the community to view emissions from different sectors, sources, and geographies.
Grand Junction | Community GHG Inventory
Lotus developed Grand Junction’s 2018 and 2021 community GHG inventories; developed a business-as-usual forecast through 2040; completed a carbon sequestration analysis of the City’s urban forest and parklands; developed a dashboard to display the results of the emissions inventories; entered the emissions inventory data into ClearPath and CDP; and researched relevant resilience and climate adaptation metrics for the city to consider tracking. Additionally, Lotus synthesized the results of all deliverables into a final report while simultaneously providing high-level policy recommendations for the primary GHG sectors to help reduce emissions.
“We are so grateful to Lotus for creating a simple, easy to use, well-documented inventory spreadsheet. We wouldn’t be able to do any of the work we do without it!”