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The International Panel on Climate Change has said that we need to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions by 2030 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, creating immense pressure to pay attention and make efforts towards reducing our carbon output. Municipalities, especially, have begun to take a deeper look into their area carbon emissions and set carbon reduction goals. With the help of energy benchmarking, city officials and property owners are able to target energy savings to reduce their carbon output. In this article, we will dive deeper into carbon emissions and how energy benchmarking can help municipalities, and those that reside within, reduce their carbon footprint
Carbon Emissions
Carbon emissions trap heat into the atmosphere and are making our planet warmer. Human activities are responsible for almost all carbon emissions, by burning fossil fuels for electricity and heat. In fact, 60% of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas.
Carbon emissions fall into three different categories:
- Scope 1: Direct emissions from organization-owned and controlled resources. These are emissions that are released due to an organization’s activity, such as factory production or vehicles.
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. These emissions are generated by the consumption of purchased electricity, heating, or cooling. The main source of Scope 2 emissions is electricity for most organizations.
- Scope 3: Indirect emissions resulting from an organization’s value chain.
In 2020, electricity was the second largest source of U.S. carbon emissions, making up 25% of the U.S. total. In fact, residential and commercial buildings cause 31% of all electrical emissions.
There is a major opportunity to reduce a building’s carbon emissions by reducing the electrical consumption of its heating, ventilation, appliances, and lighting.
With the help of energy benchmarking, municipalities and those that live and work within are able to pinpoint their energy usage and saving opportunities, as well as track energy generation, in order to reduce their carbon footprint.
Energy Benchmarking Reducing Carbon Emissions
Energy benchmarking provides important information about a building’s energy usage and opportunities for savings. It can provide information about where a building is producing the most carbon emissions, allowing officials to create energy-saving initiatives to reduce carbon output.
By identifying buildings’ energy usage, and their savings opportunities, changes can be made to business elements, such as heating and cooling systems, in order to control the carbon emission output. The data that is quantified through energy benchmarking allows you to plan improvements targeted at areas that will provide the greatest impact, as well as track energy generation to continue to make adjustments when needed.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint with the Help of B3 Benchmarking
B3 Benchmarking provides municipalities, and the property owners that reside within, the ability to take a deeper look into their carbon emissions and make adjustments to impact their carbon footprint. B3 allows officials to quantify their current emissions in Scope 1 and 2 for each of their buildings. The tool then identifies which buildings have the greatest saving opportunities by comparing their current energy use to the benchmark, providing a comprehensive look into its heating, cooling, and baseload opportunities. Officials are able to plan building improvements based on this information to ensure the maximum impact.
With B3, municipalities can set targets within the tool and track progress as well as energy generation from both onsite and offsite sources, allowing comparisons with current energy usage and emissions. The use of energy benchmarking can make a huge difference in the number of carbon emissions a building is producing. To learn more about how B3 can help you reduce your carbon footprint, request a demo with our team today.
