Informed long-range goals and practical, achievable interim goals are the keys to long-term success that transcends political and economic cycles.
Long Term Goals
There are few examples of local governments establishing long-term goals to address greenhouse gas emissions through changes in infrastructure. However, infrastructure systems can adapt community wide goals. Some common goals are:
- Kyoto Compliance
- Carbon Neutrality
Although not focused on infrastructure per se, some local governments are addressing such common targets through long-range planning. For instance, Seattle recently developed a 100-year open space plan that considers the impact of integration of water, wastewater, energy and transportation infrastructure systems.
Interim Goals
Once you have a baseline, you can set interim goals. If you have determined the amount of greenhouse gases related to pumping water, for example, you can set targets for steps that will reduce that. (If you had to opt for a rough baseline estimate because data wasn’t available, you might want to plan for data collection, such as by installing meters at the pumps.)
Targets can be qualitative or quantitative.
Example qualitative targets:
- Include energy consumption in quarterly performance reports for the wastewater treatment plant.
- Establish landfill gas capture at all landfills servicing the city.
Example quantitative targets:
- Reduce the amount of energy needed to pump water by 20% over the next five years;
- Supply infrastructure systems with at least 25% renewable energy sources within 10 years.
