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EPA's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Results
In This Section
Executive Order (EO) 13514, signed on October 5, 2009, establishes fiscal year (FY) 2008 as a baseline year for federal agency GHG emissions reporting. EPA estimated its combined FY 2008 Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions to be 140,780 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e).
In FY 2010, EPA’s combined Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions totaled 141,979 MTCO2e1—a slight increase of 1,119 MTCO2e, or 0.9 percent, from its FY 2008 baseline GHG emissions.
In FY 2010, federal GHG accounting guidance allowed agencies to use green power and renewable energy certificate (REC) purchases to reduce reported Scope 2 GHG emissions. Because of the Agency’s extensive green power and REC purchases, EPA reduced its net (reportable) Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 111,880 MTCO2e to 30,099 MTCO2e in FY 2010, which represents a reduction of approximately 80 percent.
EPA's Combined Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Note: EO 13514 does not require agencies to develop GHG emissions inventories for FY 2009. EPA elected not to compile a GHG emissions inventory for FY 2009.
Carbon Neutral Facilities
The Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center in Ada, Oklahoma, is EPA's first “carbon neutral” laboratory. A ground source heat pump (GSHP) system allows the laboratory to operate without natural gas for heating and reheat purposes. With the April 2005 purchase of 3.75 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of wind power RECs through July 2006, as well as additional Agencywide green power contracts in the years since then, EPA is offsetting its remaining conventional electricity use (e.g., for pumps, fans, lights) with electricity that produces no emissions. As a result, none of the energy consumed by the facility is associated with GHG emissions.
Other carbon neutral facilities at EPA include:
- Gulf Ecology Division Laboratory in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
- EPA’s Region 7 Office in Kansas City, Kansas.
1 These figures match the numbers that EPA reported to the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in January 2011.