Greenhouse Gas Inventory

In 2020, two greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories were compiled for the 2018 baseline year; one for the Royal Oak community as a whole and the other for municipal operations only. The data was obtained for these inventories from the local utilities, South Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCRRA), Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), and the City of Royal Oak and was then entered into software developed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)*. The GHG inventory produced a baseline from which to measure the city’s current emissions and future emission reduction progress. The standard unit for measuring GHG emissions is metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, also shown as MTCO2e. ICLEI’s ClearPath tool also allows the city to use the inventory results to conduct a business-as-usual scenario (BAU), shown in Figure 7, analyze various opportunities to reduce GHG emissions, and set projected targets for reductions. This inventory also provides the framework for future review of the city’s GHG reduction goals and associated metrics for any necessary updates.

To View more on the GHG Inventory, please CLICK HERE. 

KEY FINDINGS

Royal Oak’s total 2018 community-wide GHG emissions were 918,287 MTCO2e** and the municipal operations (city government) GHG emissions were 12,478 MTCO2e. The breakdown of Royal Oak’s community-wide GHG emissions for 2018 are shown in Figure 4. The commercial electricity sector was the single largest contributor to community emissions (24.2%), followed by the transportation-gasoline sector (19%). Residential energy, which includes electricity and natural gas, scored as the highest category contributor (31.9%). As shown in Figures 5 & 6, emissions from municipal operations only account for 1.4% of the total community-wide GHG emissions. It’s clear that for Royal Oak to meet its GHG reduction goals, the collective community will need to participate in various strategies for reducing emissions. That said, city government will lead by example and is actively engaged in energy waste reduction initiatives within municipal operations. Several GHG-reducing municipal projects are planned over the next few years.

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