Westchester Action Plan, 2008 - Westchester County Government

About the Inventory Process
The first step in management of greenhouse gases (GHG) is an inventory that accounts for
the various sources of GHGs. For the ICLEI program, the inventory includes community
emissions. Specifically, this inventory examines county-level emissions from residential
energy, non-residential energy, transportation, and waste sources within the county.
This inventory is based on data from Westchester County as well as other sources, such as
the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the
Energy Information Administration (EIA). To complete the inventory, the Clean Air and
Climate Protection Software ® developed by Torrie Smith Associates was used.
For the community analysis the following areas were included:
1. Residential energy sources including electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, coal, wood, and
propane;
2. Non-residential energy sources (this category includes commercial, industrial, and
government usage) including electricity, natural gas, coal, heavy fuel oil, light fuel
oil, propane, and kerosene;
3. Transportation sources including diesel, gasoline, and MetroNorth usage; and
4. Waste sources including landfilled waste and a waste to energy facility.
All emissions reported by this software are converted to tons of carbon dioxide equivalents
(CO 2 e). While carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is typically the largest percentage of any inventory,
there are other greenhouse gases that should be included. These include methane, nitrous
oxide, some refrigerants, and sulfur hexafluoride (a gas used in electricity transmission and
distribution). These gases all have a substantially larger climate impact than CO 2 , but for
purposes of comparison, these gases are multiplied by a factor that determines their impact
in terms of CO 2 . For instance, the climate impact of methane (according to the IPCC’s
Second Assessment Report) is 21 times that of CO 2 ; thus one metric tonne of methane is
equal to 21 metric tonnes of CO 2 .
Sources of Westchester County Emissions
The residential energy sector accounted for 3,907,000 tons; the non-residential energy
sector, 3,803,000 tons; the transportation sector, 4,804,000 tons; and waste, 440,000
tons. The following table shows these emissions broken down by sector.
Attachment 3: GHG Inventory and Reduction Goal
Westchester Action Plan, 2008 3-3