Louisville’s Carbon Footprint
Louisville has the fourth highest per-capita carbon footprint among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, according to the Brookings Institution Report, 2008 (Brookings Report). The Greater Louisville Project, 2010 Competitive City Report, indicates that Louisville has a higher carbon footprint than ten of the twelve peer cities studied.
What is a carbon footprint you may ask? A carbon footprint is defined as a measurement of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide equivalents. The Brookings Report further indicates that Louisville’s high carbon footprint is primarily attributed to residential energy usage and emissions associated with our transportation activities. Understanding what this data means and how it impacts our daily lives will allow Louisville’s citizens to identify ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
There are a number of factors and realities associated with our residential energy consumption including the cost and source of our energy and our weather. Louisville has among the lowest energy costs in the United States and this low cost appears to reduce our incentive to conserve energy. Conversely, if our energy rates increased we would be more conscious of employing energy conservation methods, much like the decline in gasoline usage that occurred when its cost reached four dollars a gallon. Increased energy costs aside, easy conservation strategies such as adjusting our thermostats a couple of degrees higher or lower (based on the season), turning off lights when leaving the room, and shutting off our televisions and computers makes sense as well as saves money and decreases our carbon footprint.
Ninety five percent of Louisville’s energy comes from coal-fueled power plants which is a carbon intensive energy generation process. With Kentucky being the number three coal producing state and in the absence of same-scale alternative energy generating options, it may stand to reason that this abundant resource is a the most cost efficient energy source at this time. That said, the consequence of having affordable yet carbon intensive energy is reflected in our carbon footprint. Our opportunity to reduce the impact of the coal fueled power plants is to use less energy.
Louisville’s weather includes the summer and winter temperature extremes. We have hot steamy summers, cold winters and few seasonal transition months of decreased energy usage in between. So, we tend to use plenty of affordable coal-based energy on a year round basis.
With respect to the transportation components of Louisville’s carbon footprint, the majority of us rely solely on our personal vehicles to get around town. We also have high traffic congestion rates and few mass transit options. Addressing these transportation issues could result in significant opportunities to reduce Louisville’s carbon footprint.
The crux of the matter is that we need to recognize the factors that contribute to Louisville’s carbon footprint and respond accordingly. Based on data in the Brookings Report, if each household reduced their energy consumption by just five percent, 277,740 tons of carbon dioxide emissions would be eliminated. This is equivalent to the average residential carbon emissions of 35,157 Louisvillians. Furthermore, many of us could likely reduce our energy consumption by more than five percent. There are plenty of opportunities for each of us to conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprint if we make the effort to change. Think how great it would be for Louisville to go from having the fourth highest per-capita carbon footprint to having the lowest per-capita carbon footprint. Reducing Louisville’s carbon footprint is an achievable goal and each of us needs to identify and implement the strategies to make it happen.
Maria Koetter is a sustainability consultant and President/Principal Scientist at Bgreen2 LLC.