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City of St. I EELds Park Greenhouse Gas Assessment
<br />City Operations, 2005 to 2015
<br />Executive Summary
<br />Introduction: In the fall of 2016, the City of St. Louis Park (City) hired a consultant team
<br />consisting of The Great Plains Institute, LHB Architects, and ORANGE Environmental, LLC,
<br />(Consultants) to prepare climate action plan for the City. An important component of the plan is
<br />the preparation of a greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment' for City -operations for the study years,
<br />2005, 2010, and 2015 (Assessment). The Assessment, prepared by ORANGE Environmental,
<br />LLC, is comprised of 2 different reports —a Findings report (in Word) and an accompanying
<br />Excel spreadsheet file that consolidated the data and analyses necessary to generate the findings.
<br />This Findings report is designed as a stand-alone document to enable a full understanding of the
<br />Assessment without the need for reference to the underlying spreadsheets.
<br />As described by Osborne and Gaebler in their book, Reinventing Government (1992), "If you
<br />don't measure results, you can't tell success from failure. If you cannot see success, you cannot
<br />reward it. If you can't see failure, you can't correct it." Every city prepares annual operating and
<br />capital improvement budgets. A city operations assessment is akin to the environmental budget
<br />for the City. Preparing and periodically updating the City operations Assessment allows the City
<br />to set reduction goals and measure success or failure in meeting those goals. The Assessment
<br />must be transparent and able to be replicated, updated, and compared with other similar baseline
<br />assessments.
<br />The Assessment methodology is consistent with the Local Government Operations Protocol far
<br />the Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories, produced by
<br />ICLEI— Local Governments for Sustaimbility (ICLEI Protocol), and The Climate Registry.2
<br />Consistent with the ICLEI Protocol, greenhouse gases (GHG) are expressed in metric tons
<br />(tomes), which equal 1,000 kilograms, or 2,204.6 pounds. It includes all pertinent and available
<br />data for the study years chosen by City staff. 2005, 2010, and 2015. GHG emissions serve as a
<br />common denominator for the comparison of kilowatts, therms, and gallons of vehicular fuels
<br />consumed; vehicle and air miles traveled; tons of municipal solid waste processed; gallons of
<br />sanitary sewage treated; and gallons of potable water produced.
<br />Greenhouse gas assessments are often called carbon barehne assessments or greenhouse gas inventories. The
<br />terms are generally interchangeable. For clarity and simplicity, the term greenhouse gar arressmem will be used
<br />herein. In addition, this assessment includes the non -carbon -based greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.
<br />2 The greenhouse gases of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N20), and methane (CH4) are aggregated and
<br />reported as carbon dioxide equivalents, a commonly used unit that combines greenhouse gases of differing impact
<br />on the earth's climate into one weighted unit. The use of the termgreenhome gorses herein implies the carbon
<br />dioxide equivalents of these 3 key greenhouse gases. The source information for the tables and charts included in the
<br />body of the report can be found in the detailed tables that have been provided to the City as a technical supplement
<br />to this Assessment. City staff provided all data that pertains to City operations unless otherwise noted Energy
<br />consumption data for City buildings and facilities are from the utilities and the Minnesota Buildings, Benchmarks,
<br />and Beyond (B3) Program when available. All of the sources of data for the Assessment are transparent, fully
<br />identified, verifiable, and reliable. They consist of City reco is and staff repots; utility records and repots to the
<br />Minnesota Public Utilities Commission; internationally recognized methodologies and published scientific papers
<br />regarding the calculation of GHG emissions; federal, state, and county agencies (USDOT, USEPA, MNDOT,
<br />MPCA, Metropolitan Council, Metropolitan Airports Commission, Hennepin County); and other published sources.
<br />ORANGE
<br />ENVIRONMENTAL
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