MORGANTOWN — Upon the recommendation of the Morgantown Green Team, the city of Morgantown is looking to up its game in terms of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
Morgantown City Council recently adopted a resolution recommitting to its 2017 pledge to reduce emissions by 26%-28% by 2025 and further striving to cut emissions by 52% by 2030.
These percentages are compared to 2005 baseline numbers, which is in line with what former President Barrack Obama promised in 2015 when he signed onto the Paris Climate Agreement — an international treaty on climate change with a goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
In 2017, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement, prompting some 470 cities across 48 states, including Morgantown, to commit to the agreement’s original goals as part of the National Mayors Climate Agenda.
And progress has been made.
During a September update, Morgantown Green Team Chairman James Kotcon said the city had eliminated some 1,125 tons of carbon dioxide, representing a 19% reduction from the 2005 baseline.
Many of these reductions have come by way of incremental efficiency upgrades to city facilities measured against a 2020 Energy Star benchmarking process that established energy efficiency goals for each building.
Kotcon also noted that after years of discussion, Mon Power established a tariff to allow light emitting diode, or LED, streetlights within the city as opposed to the metal-halide and mercury vapor lamps currently being used.
“That one step by itself would allow us to meet the 2025 goal. That’s a big chunk of greenhouse gas emissions,” Kotcon said.
While the city closes in on that 2025 benchmark, the goal posts are moving.
The U.S. is once again part of the Paris Climate Agreement under President Joe Biden who, on Earth Day 2021, established a new goal of 52% reduction from the 2005 emissions baseline by 2030.
Kotcon noted that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act both included a number of incentives aimed at encouraging municipalities to embrace initiatives like implementing zero-emission building codes, outfitting city facilities with solar panels and converting to electric vehicle fleets.
Even so, Kotcon said, a financial investment will be required. He noted that the progress made so far has been done by plucking the low-hanging fruit— meaning it either came at little cost or actually saved the city money.
“Fighting climate change is probably the toughest thing that America has ever had to do. There is no single silver bullet. It will require everyone to do their share and some of that will not be free, at least in the short-term,” he said.
If the city is going to invest in energy efficiency, now seems to be the time to do it. A major overhaul of the notoriously energy inefficient Morgantown City Hall is underway with work on two of the city’s other major energy sinks, the public safety building and public works garage, slated to follow.
Former Morgantown City councilor and current Green Team member Mark Brazaitis said any investments made to increase efficiency and reduce the city’s greenhouse emissions will pale in comparison to the financial and moral cost of not acting.
“Climate change is the issue of our time,” he said. “It’s the most important issue we will confront.”
