By Kate Lohnes

Central Ohio still has a few months before spring arrives, but green is already on Upper Arlington city officials’ minds.

In a move designed to jumpstart more eco-friendly initiatives, the city recently spent half a year getting its carbon footprint (or environmental impact) measured. UA is the first community in Central Ohio to get the measurement, according to assistant city manager Joe Valentino.

While Valentino says the city began making more environmentally-conscious decisions several years ago, city officials started the carbon footprint process in fall 2007.

“We wanted to find out if there are other things we needed to pay attention to as we move into a greener community,” Valentino says. “We wanted to get a handle on how to take care of the environment and how to become leaders as a community.”

The “Carbon Footprint Audit” is a free service provided by the Center for Energy and Environment at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). MORPC has partnered with companies Amaresco, American Electric Power and EMH&T to do the carbon footprint audits.

According to Erin Miller, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at MORPC, the report helps communities ready for potential future carbon regulations while saving money and the environment by identifying holes in energy efficiency.

“It’s proactive instead of reactive,” she says. This is showing leadership to residents and to the community at large by taking initiative and leading by example. (These communities) are looking at their own facilities and own fleets and are trying to set a good example to the residents that live in their community.”

Determining UA’s carbon footprint meant a lot of data combing: Valentino says MORPC spent at least six months reviewing old electricity bills, examining the city’s service vehicle fleet, visiting city buildings and more. Even the number of city employees and their transportation routines was taken into account, he says, as well as the heating and cooling systems on city buildings.

The city received the report in spring 2008. The results indicate Upper Arlington produces the net equivalent of 7,051 tons of carbon dioxide a year, or .0575 tons per square foot of the city.

According to Valentino and the report, it’s hard to put that number into perspective right now, because few other communities have done a similar report yet. Any comparisons to places outside of Central Ohio might not be fair because of climate discrepancies.

“As other communities come online (with the program), we will have that kind of information,” Valentino says. “To get a picture of what’s typical, we have to be able to compare (to other Central Ohio communities). There are cities around the country that have had their carbon footprints published, but the danger there is they are in different environments. It’s like comparing us to a city in New Mexico.”

Miller says MORPC has recently completed the carbon footprint reports for Hilliard, Dublin and Gahanna; their reports should be available online early in 2009. Currently, MORPC is working on Franklin County’s overall carbon footprint, as well. Having this data available will help UA and other Central Ohio communities figure out how to change their emissions in the future.

“Their number is going to give them that baseline to understand where they are starting from as a community,” she says. “They need to decide to what level they want to reduce their emissions. However much the community wants to reduce their emissions, this helps them develop a target and an action plan. The report gives them options to choose from.”

Miller says she and others at MORPC applaud the city of UA for taking action and participating in the program.

“We think it’s great,” she says. “They came to us and say they wanted to be the first community to get this done, so they were the leader. We benefitted from what we were able to learn doing their footprint, so kudos to them for starting us out.”

With its carbon footprint report as the starting point, UA city officials are currently brainstorming ways to reduce their own carbon footprint. Valentino says the city has begun implementing smaller strategies already. These include making double-sided copies in the office and utilizing the Internet to reduce paper waste (for example, the public can read informational packets, program schedules and other documents on the city’s Web page rather than getting a paper copy).

Down the road, Valentino says the city will continue to look for viable environmental solutions that make sense for the community.

“Potentially, in the future we might look at how to change our fleet,” he says. “Is biodiesel an option? Are electric cars an option? Depending on the usage for those vehicles, that will help determine what we buy. But if we always bought a big SUV for something, maybe we don’t need it. Maybe we can do something that’s more environmentally friendly.”

Ultimately, Valentino says he and other city officials see the carbon footprint as the first step in a continuing process to make UA a greener, more energy-efficient community.

“Now that we have the footprint, the goal is to, in one year, three years, five years report back to City Council and say, ‘This is what (our carbon footprint) is now, it’s a reduction by this much, and this is what we did to get there,’” he says. “This is not just all about being green. It’s also about getting the best bang for your buck. The two can go hand in hand. We’re also being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. It’s green in more ways than one.”

Kate Lohnes is assistant editor of Upper Arlington Magazine.


What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is “a representation of the effect human activities have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases produced (measured in units of carbon dioxide).”
Source: The Education for Sustainable Development Glossary, www.esd.rgs.org/glossarypopup.html

Want to calculate your personal carbon footprint? Visit The Nature Conservancy Web site at www.nature.org.

UA’s Numbers
In addition to its net carbon dioxide production, the carbon footprint audit also found these numbers:
• UA has an estimated tree canopy of 243,000 trees. It also has about 347 acres of forest area.
• The city’s 262 full-time employees commute 1.85 million miles to and from work each year.
• In 2007, the city had 240 vehicles in its fleet. To power these vehicles, the city purchased approximately 88,000 gallons of gasoline and 57,000 of diesel fuel that year.

View the MORPC Carbon Footprint report for Upper Arlington at www.morpc.org/energy/communities/resources.asp.