PA Environment Digest

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GreenGov Council: 3% Drop In State Govt. Energy Use; Renewable Energy Purchases Offset 40% Of Energy Load

On January 8, 2019, Gov. Wolf issued an Executive Order setting a statewide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels. These are the same reduction levels in the 2015 U.N. Paris Climate Agreement.

The Order re-establishes the GreenGov Council to boost green and sustainable practices in state government to help achieve the goals set in the executive order, while saving taxpayers money and creating jobs in the state’s clean energy economy.

The Council is co-chaired by the Secretaries of the departments of General Services, Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources.

Recently the Council issued its 2019 annual report highlighting progress toward meeting the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in the Executive Order.

Among the progress reported was--

-- Energy Use: A utility benchmarking initiative demonstrated a 2.9 percent reduction in energy consumption from FY 2017-18 to 2018-19 saving over $1 million in annual energy costs..

-- Renewable Energy: The Commonwealth purchased enough renewable energy to offset 40 percent of the state’s electricity energy load for the year. This purchase ranks Pennsylvania has #35 of the U.S. EPA’s top 100 green power users. It also reduces the state’s carbon emissions by about 218,494 metric tons.

-- Green Buildings: Twelve new buildings or major renovations incorporated high-performance building criteria into the design and construction.

-- Electric Vehicles: The Commonwealth has established a goal of 990 passenger electric vehicles by 2025. As of November, the state had 53 electric vehicles. The state also established a first-year benchmark of vehicle miles traveled, fuel consumption and estimated carbon emissions to better track costs and results.

-- Agency Checklist: The Council established an Agency Certification Checklist available online to assess agencies’ progress on delivering sustainability within government operations.

Click Here to read the entire report.

Visit the GreenGov Council webpage for more information.

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