Playbook for Green Buildings + Neighborhoods | Plan | Infrastructure

Energy and greenhouse gas emissions baselines allow you to track progress.

Touring a district cooling chiller system in Portland, OR. Photo ourtesy of: City of Portland

If you want to track progress you are making in creating infrastructure that is more sustainable, you will need a baseline assessment of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. You don’t need to wait for these numbers in order to introduce as many green concepts as possible into projects that are already at some stage of design, construction, or repair/retrofit. But you will need them if you want to develop a comprehensive plan for creating climate friendly infrastructure or even just to demonstrate the effectiveness of a single pilot project.

Tools that help establish energy and greenhouse gas baselines are available for specific sectors of infrastructure. Refer to these sections for more information:

Energy
Water & Wastewater
Solid Waste
Stormwater

Energy Baseline
Assess the energy use that drives most greenhouse gas emissions, and is associated with direct costs.
Greenhouse Gas Baseline
Assess the greenhouse gas emissions, taking into account the energy baseline and other emissions sources.

Refining Estimates of Water Related Energy Use in California

Updated information on water-related energy use in California.

RETScreen International

RETScreen software can be used to evaluate energy production and savings, life-cycle costs, emission...

GHG Coefficients for Electricity Generation

Updated State-Level greenhouse gas emission coefficients for electricity generation, by state.- "Up...

The production and use of energy is the single most significant driver of GHG emissions in a community; about 40% of fossil fuel combustion emissions, the primary GHG source, is from the residential and commercial end-use sectors (US EPA, 2007).