Your Profile. Your Priorities.

An essential component of a good action planning framework is a situational analysis. Rapid or in-depth, it should cover at least the following considerations:

• Your Local Government Emissions Profile
• Your Energy Budget
• Your Corporate and Community Priorities
• Your Energy Opportunities

Depending on your situation, your opportunities could be a comprehensive buildings retrofit, integrating climate and energy considerations into your sewage treatment plant upgrade, phasing premium efficiency vehicles into your fleet, or all of them.

Your Emissions Profile: Today’s and Tomorrow’s

These four government operations greenhouse gas emission profiles illustrate some of BC’s community-to-community diversity. Variables that can affect your local government emissions include:

• Vehicle and equipment-based services provided (e.g. road construction and maintenance, policing)
• Vehicle types
• Civic buildings – type, age and condition
• Recreational facilities provided such as pools and arenas
• Climate
• Energy sources used for building heating and cooling
• Infrastructure services provided (e.g. wastewateri treatment)

Your Energy Budget: Consumption and Cost

As important as GHGs, understanding your energy consumption and energy expenditures can help focus identification of options. Many small local governments have half a dozen different energy bills. Large local governments often have dozens across their operations. The first time a corporate greenhouse gas inventory is conducted, it is often the first time there is a full accounting of a local government’s energy consumption.  

Ten years ago, a federal analysis of local government operations estimated energy consumption at approximately 2 Gigajoules per capita per year, broken down approximately 50:50 between electricity and fuels [1]. At the time, this translated into $20-25 in energy consumption per capita, or $200,000-250,000 for a community of 10,000, or $2-2.5 million for a community of 100,000. This figure would be substantially higher today, given the rise in energy costs over the intervening period.

Along with a GHG profile, an inventory provides Board/Council and staff with their first complete account of energy consumption and energy expenditure, making ita a valuable management tool.A good energy and emissions inventory can provide some really insightful information, e.g.

• Aggregation of data – i.e. understanding the role of each sector such as vehicles, buildings and infrastructure, in overall energy consumption, costs, and emissions
• Disaggregation of data – i.e. understanding the energy consumption, costs, and emissions within each sector, such as by type of vehicle, individual building, or specific facilities
• Specific metrics such as distance traveled by vehicle type, or energy consumption per square foot by building

A level of granularity like this turns a greenhouse gas inventory into a management tool and can inform strategic planning. While the natural instinct may be to transform a fleet of conventional cars into hybrids, emission reductions and return on investment may be greater by investing in premium-efficiency waste hauling vehicles.

Your Priorities: Make it Matter

On top of emissions and energy consumption data, a range of other factors can be integrated into plans, based on priorities that really matter to Council/Board and staff, such as:

• Capital plans for infrastructure systems, buildings, fleets
• Employee comforti, performance and retention in poorly performing buildings
• Budget shortfalls in fleet management due to rising fuel costs
• Building and fleet manager energy knowledge
• The need for expanded or upgraded infrastructure services such as wastewater collection and treatment

Your Energy Opportunities: All Over the Map

British Columbia’s historically inexpensive hydro electricity, natural gasi and gasoline, have fueled energy intensive operations.  With the uncertainty of energy prices there is growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this creates significant opportunities for cost effective energy and emission management measures.

Based on your energy consumption, emissions and local government priorities, it is useful to survey best practices and case studies that could be applicable to your situation. The buildings, fleets and infrastructure toolboxes include many ideas, and also identify numerous external resources.

Many community strategies, such as compact, mixed use development, have direct benefits to government operations. In this example, fleet vehicle distance travelled and infrastructure servicing costs can potentially be reduced. It is therefore clear that there is no hard line dividing the actions and benefits of community actions and government operations actions.

The energy mapping exercise illustrated in the community situational analysis a low carbon energy scoping exercise that could include local government infrastructure. For example, mapped energy sources could include heat recovery from wastewater systems, biogas from organic waste, or district energy systems, that not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but could establish a new revenue stream for local governments.

Integrated Action Planning

This kind of a situational analysis can identify some initial ideas to be informed by target setting and action evaluation. To enhance understanding of the challenges and opportunities, strengthen the plan, and get buy in, effective engagement inside local government would underpin the whole process.

Resources

1. Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Climate Action Planning Tools and Resources Centre.
http://gmf.fcm.ca/Partners-for-Climate-Protection/

An extensive array of resources for climate action planning produced by the FCM and ICLEI Canada including: inventory tools, a business case, a model climate action plan, and a quick action guide. The Centre for Sustainable Communities also has a database of case studies, webinars and other online materials that relate to climate protection.

2. Community Energy Association. 2006. Tool Kit for Community Energy Planning in BC.
http://www.communityenergy.bc.ca/community-energy-planning-toolkit-rev-2...

An comprehensive internet resource describing community energy use and sustainable energy opportunities, integrating energy into local government activities, showcasing BC success stories, and engaging the community, developers, utilities and senior levels of government in making community energy planning.

3.  Natural Resources Canada. 2007. Community Energy Planning Guide. http://www.sbc.nrcan.gc.ca/software_and_tools/software_and_tools_e.asp#C...

An extensive guide for driving a 50% reduction in community fossil fuel consumption. It practically outlines how a CEP can promote community sustainabilityi through projects that prioritize efficiency in the use of energy and energy resources. It contains case studies of initiatives throughout Canada and the world.