A recently released 2018 study of greenhouse gas emissions in Jefferson County shows the county has reduced its emissions by 40% since 2005, a sign the county is on track to reach its goal of reducing emissions by 80% of 1990 levels.
The study released this week by the city’s and county’s Joint Climate Action Committee found that switching from Puget Sound Energy to Jefferson County PUD in 2013 had a large impact on the overall reduction in emissions since the PUD acquires electricity from Bonneville Power Association, which sources power from hydroelectric dams.
However, the study also shows Jefferson County residents create more than half of our greenhouse gas emissions through driving. Due to an increase in population, the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in Jefferson County are 19% higher than in 2005.
“Jefferson County’s largest institutions have done a good job of cutting emissions, and the voter’s decision to buy back our power utility certainly helped our household carbon footprint,” said County Commissioner Kate Dean. “But we have a long way to go, and transportation is clearly the low-hanging fruit here.”
Background
In 2008, a group of Jefferson County citizens published an Inventory of Energy Usage and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions, based on 2005 data. This prompted the city and county governments to form the Climate Action Committee in 2009, a group of elected individuals, industry stakeholders and appointed citizen representatives with the goal of combating climate change in the county. The city and county governments also adopted greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, aiming to reduce emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2025 with an interim goal to reduce emissions by 15% in 2020.
The 2018 inventory was completed by the Climate Action Committee to determine that progress.
“The inventory identifies where we have had successes and where there is more to do,” said Cindy Jayne, chair of the Climate Action Committee. “Having this information allows us as a community to define and prioritize emissions-reduction strategies that can have the biggest impact on our emissions.”
The study categories emissions in two ways: emissions produced by sector-based sources within the county, such as the Port Townsend Paper Mill, and emissions produced as a consequence of community consumptions, such as transportation, food consumption and services within the community.
The study also looked at the greenhouse gas emissions from local governments, including Jefferson County, the City of Port Townsend, the Port of Port Townsend and the Public Utility District.
“It provides updates on the emissions of the City of Port Townsend operations, Jefferson County operations and the Port Townsend Paper Corporation as compared to their 2005 baseline that was done previously,” Jayne said. “And it establishes new baselines for all other Climate Action Committee organizations (Port of Port Townsend, Jefferson Transit, Port Townsend Paper Corporation, Jefferson PUD, and Jefferson Healthcare), to allow those organizations to identify their best opportunities for emissions reduction going forward.”
Results
In 2018, Jefferson County had an estimated population of 31,7292 that included 9,704 within the city of Port Townsend. In 2018, greenhouse gas emissions totaled 275,083 metric tons.
These 2018 results show a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 40% from 2005 levels.
One significant factor in this reduction took place in 2013, when the primary electricity supplier for East Jefferson County switched from Puget Sound Energy to Jefferson PUD, which began acquiring its electricity from Bonneville Power Association. This was based on a community-wide initiative approved by county voters in 2008. BPA’s electricity is sourced from hydropower, so this resulted in a 97.6% reduction in the CO2e emissions intensity of Jefferson County’s power.
But despite this decrease in emissions from electricity, there was also a 12.6% increase in emissions from transportation.
Sixty-six percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Jefferson County are from on-road transportation, and unless drastic changes are made this will increase due to a growing population.
The total of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in 2018 was 19% higher than in 2005. Transportation emissions also increased 13% since 2005.
The study found the miles traveled per capita was 11,918 in Jefferson County—up 6.3% since 2005—which compares to the 8,272 miles traveled per capita in the state as a whole.
Possibly due to the rural, spread-out nature of the county, commuting constitutes about 21% of all miles traveled in the county.
“I hope that people see that their greatest source of emissions comes from a simple choice they make every day: whether to get in their cars or not,” Dean said. “We have a highly subsidized transit system that is largely underutilized. We have trails and sidewalks. We have the technology to share rides. And yet most people get in their car many times a day without even thinking about it.”
In addition to measuring greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, the study delved into the emissions produced outside the county, as a result of county residents’ consumption of goods and services.
This Consumption Based Emissions Inventory estimates emissions resulting from all products and services consumed by households in Jefferson County.
“For the public, the consumption-based inventory shows that in addition to our transportation choices having a large impact on our personal carbon footprint, there is also a significant impact from what we choose to purchase,” Jayne said. “We all have opportunities to reduce our personal carbon footprints by not only reducing our transportation emissions, but also by considering the carbon footprint of the items we purchase.”
For example, vegetables grown in Jefferson County and trucked from local farms to grocery stores will have a smaller footprint than vegetables grown in California or farther away.
The results showed an estimated 20.2 metric tons of greenhouse gas per resident, less than the national average of 27 tons of metric per person.
The study also showed that how we heat our homes is another area to improve on at an individual level. The carbon footprint of electricity for energy is much lower per unit than fuel oil, propane or wood.
What’s next?
The Climate Action Committee presented its findings to county commissioners and the city council on April 13.
While they had planned to present the study to community members in a series of talks, kicking off with the Earth Day event at Salish Coast Elementary, the current global pandemic has put a stop to some of their plans.
But it has also given the committee and the community a chance to look at the climate crisis through a new lens.
“We do need to create a new normal to deal with the climate crisis, where the greenhouse gas impact of our actions at all levels—personal, city/county, state, federal and global—is a key driving force, similar to how containing the coronavirus pandemic is now a driving force across all those levels,” Jayne said. “Some of the skills that we are acquiring now, such as telecommuting and conducting virtual meetings where possible, could be part of the new normal for the climate crisis.”
Members of the committee are also excited to begin spreading the word about the new study, in hope of encouraging change on a community level.
“Just as we are facing the coronavirus as a community, the climate crisis is and will continue to impact our community as well,” Jayne said. “The climate projections for this area indicate increased wildfires, higher chances of summer droughts, increased river flooding and rising seas."
The study is available to read at the City of Port Townsend’s website.
“Understanding the results helps us understand where our greatest opportunities are for greenhouse gas emissions, both at a community level as well as at a personal level, so we can do our part as informed citizens in reducing the severity of the global climate crisis,” she said.
