Climate and Energy Action Plan (CEAP)

City of Ashland – Greenhouse Gas Inventory (2011 – 2015) 13 DETAILED RESULTS FOR SIGNIFICANT EMISSIONS Built Environment Electricity and natural gas use by the residential and commercial sectors are the leading sector-based emissions. Ashland’s residents’ homes have a slightly larger impact than their commercial business. Industrial energy is small in comparison. By energy type, electricity had a larger impact (~60% of total building energy) in 2015 than natural gas (~40%). As can be seen in Figure 9, Ashland’s residential electricity demand declined over 9% between 2011 and while commercial and governmental demand increased slightly. Use of natural gas decreased 13% between 2011 and 2014 in all sectors2. Most of this decrease occurred between 2013 and 2014 driven by warmer than average winter temperatures leading to lower space heating. This can be seen in the declining number of heating degree-days (HDD)3 over the same time period (dashed line in Figure 10). Other stationary combustion fuels (fuel oil and propane) are included in the inventory, but represent a very small source of community emissions. The remaining significant emissions source related to buildings is escaping refrigerant gases from air conditioning and refrigeration units. This source represents 5% of Ashland’s sector-based emissions. These refrigerants have global warming potentials that are hundreds to thousands of times that of carbon dioxide. In other words, losing a little can add up quickly. 2 2015 natural gas data is not available. Available data spans from 2011 – 2014. 3 Heating degree days reflect the energy required to heat a building when average outdoor temperatures drop below 65°F.