Role in the Local Government and Community

Infrastructure plays a significant role in local government energy consumption & emissions. Water supply, wastewater and solid waste management, and other systems also account for major capital and operating costs, and these costs are increasing rapidly, as regulations change and construction costs of public works escalate.

300 HP air blowers for a wastewater treatment plant / Mixing Systems Inc. Efficient and effective infrastructure systems can reduce both emissions and costs. Investments in efficiency can potentially pay back quickly, and can contribute to meeting carbon commitments for local government operations.

Community demand, such as for drinking water, is closely linked with infrastructure impacts (including emissions) and costs. Investing in community resource conservation and demand management can result in long term benefits in terms of emissions and the bottom line for local government operations, in addition to addressing other sustainability objectives. Demand management also contributes to community wide emission reductions. The City of Kelowna made water conservation a priority and developed educational resources including water efficiency guidelines / City of Kelowna

Low carbon infrastructure can also address emissions that result from construction (for example, from concrete production) as well as operation. Life cycle emissions for most buildings and many types of facilities and equipment are typically dominated by operations rather than construction. However, construction emissions are immediate and therefore important in addressing near term emissions goals.

Land use/transportation patterns also affect infrastructure-related emissions, such as emissions resulting from road construction. For example, larger roads in low-density areas will entail increased use of emissions-intensive materials such as asphalt and concrete. Compact communities typically have lower servicing costs over the long term [1]. Refer to the transportation and land use sectors for more detail.

[Use the tabs above to learn HOW you can reduce emissions in infrastructure.]

[1] Halifax Regional Municipality. (2005). Settlement Pattern & Form with Service Costs Analysis. http://www.halifax.ca/regionalplanning/publications/documents/PatternBookVol2Apr05.pdf [1]