Mid-Hudson Regional Inventory Update FAQ
As part of developing regional sustainability plans, NYSERDA funded a series of contractors to prepare regional greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories for each of New York State's ten economic development regions. The 2010 Mid-Hudson Regional Inventory developed by ICF for NYSERDA is available on the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) website. This inventory is based on the methods in the 2015 Regional and Community GHG Inventory Guidance, and is applicable for credit in the CSC Program. In 2023, HVRC staff updated data and methods used in the 2010 Mid-Hudson Regional GHG Inventory that includes all municipalities in the Mid-Hudson Region. This update was funded under the CSC Coordinator Program through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
What is a Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory?
A community GHG inventory accounts for emissions associated with activities occurring within a community’s boundaries, including electricity consumption, transportation, and solid waste emissions. The community GHG inventory can establish a baseline and identify opportunities to reduce GHG emissions for the community at large.
The 2010 Mid-Hudson Regional Inventory calculates emissions for the entire Mid-Hudson region and provides community-level data for each village, town, city, and county in the region for the baseline year 2010.
The 2021 Mid-Hudson Regional Inventory updates the 2010 inventory using 2021 data (or the closest year available).
What is Included in a Community Greenhouse Gas Inventory?
Buildings (Stationary Energy): Energy used in Residential, Commercial, & Industrial buildings, and other non-mobile uses (e.g., electricity, natural gas, fuel oils, wood, and propane).
Transportation (Mobile Energy): Fuel consumption for on-road transportation and off-road vehicles.
Waste & Wastewater: Non-energy process emissions from landfills and wastewater treatment plants or septic systems (e.g., methane emissions from anaerobic decay).
Industrial Processes: Non-energy process emissions from industrial activity and fugitive emissions from fuel systems (e.g., carbon dioxide from cement production, A/C coolants, and leakages).
Agriculture: Non-energy emissions from crops and livestock (e.g., methane and nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer).
Energy Supply: Energy generation and fugitive emissions including energy losses during transmission and distribution of electricity and natural gas.
What is the CSC Coordinator Program?
Through the NYSDEC CSC Coordinator Program, in 2022 and 2023, HVRC hosted a series of cohorts to provide technical assistance to municipalities in the Mid-Hudson Region in developing GHG inventories and climate action plans. More information about the CSC Coordinator Program can be found here.
The 2021 Inventory Update was done as part of the 2023 Community GHG Cohort and participating municipalities helped check utility and census data for their individual communities.
Resources
2021 Mid-Hudson Regional Inventory Methodology
How To Create a Community GHG Inventory Webinar.
For more information about the inventory update, how to use these resources, or questions about the data in the updates tab please email Eleanor Peck.
The HVRC CSC Coordinator Program is made possible with funding from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Climate Smart Communities Coordinator Program.
