Greenhouse Gas Emissions Project
Sustainability Network Recommends Decrease of Emissions of 10 Percent by 2012
Baltimore County has nationally been recognized for its leadership in natural resource protection and has emphasized the need to be proactive in reducing the impact on our environment. The area that has been of most concern is the climate change resulting from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Proactively David Carroll, the previous Director of Sustainability, took the first step in developing the County's strategy by collecting inventory on the current generated gas emissions throughout the county. This includes County government operations, residential and commercial sectors.
The 2006 GHG inventory was conducted by Pat Brady through her Masters Program at Towson University under the supervision of Dr. Brian Fath, Department of Biological Sciences (see below for link to full report). The County has secured the assistance of Pat Brady to prepare updates of the GHG inventory and to develop test scenarios of the effectiveness of reduction efforts.
Read Brady and Fath's full GHG report. (PDF)
Below is a detailed chart listing the gas emission inventory results from 2006.
2006 Community Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Results
| Year | 2006 | Metric Tons eCO2 | Percent |
| Residential | 3.5 Billion kWh | 3,195,697 | 27.7 |
| Commercial | 2.2 Billion kWh | 2,331,496 | 20.0 |
| Industrial | 1.3 Billion kWh | 956,473 | 8.3 |
| Transportation | 8.3 Billion VMTs | 4,897,796 | 42.4 |
| Waste | 763,000 tons | 166,805 | 1.4 |
| Total | 11,548,267 | 100 | |
| Population | 787,762 | ||
| per capita Emissions | 14.66 |
After reviewing the initial results, government operations hold a 1.24 percent contribution to the total emissions countywide. Of government operations, the most energy usage is from government buildings and wastewater pumping to treatment facilities. Below is a detailed chart of the county government emission inventory.
| Year 2006 | Annual Usage | MTons eCO2 | Percent |
| Buildings | 55 million kWh | 36,629 | 27.8 |
| Vehicle Feet | 23 million VMT | 20,162 | 14.1 |
| Employee Commute | 46 million VMT | 24,820 | 17.4 |
| St. Lights/Signals | 30 million kWh | 18,854 | 13.2 |
| Waste-Water | 43 billion gals | 38,665 | 27.1 |
| Waste | 2500 tons | 572 | 0.4 |
| Government Emissions | 142,701 | 100.0 | |
| Community Emissions | 11,548,267 |
Revised June 29, 2011
