County of San Diego 2005/2006 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

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Executive
Summary
The County of San Diego has recognized that human-caused climate change is a reality, with potentially disruptive
effects to the County’s residents and businesses. The County also recognizes that local governments play a leading
role in both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the potential impacts of climate change. Local
governments can dramatically reduce emissions from their government operations through such measures as
increasing energy efficiency in facilities and vehicle fleets, utilizing renewable energy sources, enacting sustainable
purchasing policies, reducing waste, and supporting alternative modes of transportation for employees. The cobenefits
of these measures may include lower energy bills, improved air quality, and more efficient government
operations.
The County of San Diego has begun its efforts to address the causes and effects of climate change with the
assistance of the partners in the San Diego Regional Climate Protection Initiative. These partners include the San
Diego Foundation, local incorporated jurisdictions within the County of San Diego, and ICLEI.
This greenhouse gas emissions inventory is an important first step in the County’s climate protection initiative. As
advised by ICLEI, it is essential to first quantify emissions to establish:
• A baseline emissions inventory, against which to measure future progress.
• An understanding of the scale of emissions from various sources.
Presented here are estimates of greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 resulting from the County of San Diego’s
government operations and from the San Diego County community-at-large in 2005. With one exception, 1 all
government operations emissions estimates in this report refer to emissions generated from sources over which the
1 The exception is emissions from employee-owned vehicles that are used by employees during commuting.
2005/2006 San Diego County Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory ix