Just Call Me Bigfoot

Virginia metropolitan regions are among the biggest contributors to global warming, asserts a new Brookings Institution study, “Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Urban America.” According to the study…

Washington: The average resident in metropolitan Washington emitted 3.115 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005 — ranking it 89th out of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States in energy efficiency. Another way of putting it, Metro Washington residents had the 12 largest carbon footprint per capita. What’s more transportation and residential energy use increased 7.2 percent between 2000 and 2005.

That compared to 2.24 tons of carbon emitted by the average 100-metro resident and 2.60 tons of carbon emitted by the average American from transportation and residential energy.

Hampton Roads: The average resident in Hampton Roads emitted 2.340 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005. That made it the most energy-efficient of Virginia‘s three major metros, with the 36th smallest carbon footprint in the country. What’s more, the region has been trending positive: Energy use declined 0.86 percent between 2000 and 2005.

Richmond: The average resident in metropolitan Richmond emitted 3.039 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005, giving it the 15th largest carbon footprint per capita of the top 100 metros. Richmonders can take some consolation, however, that transportation and energy use decreased 2.68 percent between 2000 and 2005.

Commenting upon the Brookings study, Trip Pollard with the Southern Environmental Law Center said:

Virginia has lagged far behind other states in funding energy efficiency, but has taken some initial steps to promote a more balanced transportation program. Governor Kaine has recognized the importance of global warming and the threat it poses to Virginia, including creating the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change.

We must be particularly careful, though, when reviewing new transportation funding, not to advance more oversized, expensive highway projects that would lock us into decades of sprawl, driving, and pollution by subsidizing fossil fuel-dependent development patterns and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are strategies that Brookings recommends for metro regions to pursue:

• Promote more transportation choices to expand transit and compact development options

• Introduce more energy-efficient freight operations with regional freight planning

• Require home energy cost disclosure when selling and “on-bill” financing to stimulate and scale up energy-efficient retrofitting of residential housing

• Use federal housing policy to create incentives for energy- and location-efficient decisions

• Issue a metropolitan challenge to develop innovative solutions that integrate multiple policy areas