2022 AIA Communities by Design Reimagining Petaluma SDAT - Report - Page 45
Petaluma DAT
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long COVID conditions most commonly report tiredness
or chronic fatigue, respiratory, heart, digestive and/
or neurological symptoms. These conditions are real
and may disproportionately affect those currently not
considered “socially vulnerable”, increasing the effects
of pollution exposure, limiting both food access and
physical activity, and disproportionately impacting costburden and overcrowded households.
malfunctions.3 These methane emissions, spread over
the structures that are hooked up to gas lines, may be
cumulatively significant in terms of climate damage.
Advanced Methane Accounting
New advanced methane accounting for natural gas
appliances4 indicates that fugitive methane emissions,
as a percentage of CO2 emissions calculated using
activity data and emissions factor, may be estimated to
be over 50% of total CO2 emissions. Should advanced
methane accounting for natural gas appliances be used
to estimate emissions from energy use inside buildings
in Petaluma’s GHG Inventory, emissions associated with
natural gas alone would account for approximately 35%
of the total emissions in the city.
Recommendations
1. Consider the US Census 5% undercounting of
Hispanic population both in Environmental Justice
and Health Analysis and in determining minimum
participation requirements in civic engagement.
2. Consider income inequality as a function of income
distribution’s standard deviation for each US Census
Block Group, also in contrast with Sonoma County’s
or the state’s standard deviation.
Recommendations
3. Consider incorporating the compounded economic
and health effects of long Covid in Methods 3A and
3B, including those whose ability to find employment
or to increase wages has been limited by new longterm care and support responsibilities.
2. Consider advanced methane accounting (i.e. fugitive
emissions) when calculating emissions from energy
use inside buildings.
1. Consider separation of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions
in both residential and commercial buildings.
Focus on Mitigation and Sequestration
Revisit the Greenhouse Gas Inventory
According to Petaluma’s 2018 Greenhouse Gas
Inventory, the city emitted 472,422 metric tons of
carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) in 2018, with
transportation and buildings as the main sources of
emissions, accounting for 67% and 24% of the total
emissions, respectively (see Figure 4).
Energy from residential and nonresidential (including
commercial and industrial) buildings was calculated by
adding emissions from both electricity and natural gas
services. Emissions from electricity, which accounted for
24,177 MTCO2e, were calculated based on the electricity
emissions factor provided by suppliers, including PG&E,
direct access, Sonoma Clean Power Start and Sonoma
Figure 4: Total Annual Community GHG Emissions (2018).
Clean Power Ever Green. Emissions from natural
gas were estimated from activity data by applying an
emissions factor. In total, emissions from natural gas
accounted for 90,297 MTCO2e.
it may also hide the specific impact of natural gas
and associated methane emissions. The separation
of Scope 1 and Scope 2 may provide a more accurate
representation of the impact of emissions mitigation
strategies, such as building electrification.
Areas of Opportunity
Fugitive Methane Emissions
Scope of Emissions
The City of Petaluma’s GHG Inventory combines Scope
1 and Scope 2 emissions to determine carbon emissions
from energy use inside buildings. While consolidating
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions may simplify reporting,
There is new evidence that methane emissions from
energy use inside buildings that depend on natural gas
for cooking, heating or drying clothes, can be significant
due to leakage, venting prior to ignition and burner
According to the City of Petaluma’s Climate Emergency
Framework, the City has established a series of goals to
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Among those goals,
the city has set out as top priority to eliminate emissions
from transportation, energy use inside new and existing
buildings and waste. It also includes the goal of reducing
consumption emissions to the level necessary to meet
the City’s climate goals.
3. U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, The
White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, 2021.
4. Patricia M. B. Saint Vincent & Natalie J. Pekney.
Beyond-the-Meter: Unaccounted Sources of Methane
Emissions in the Natural Gas Distribution Sector.
Environmental Science & Technology (2020).
