The City of New Castle will spend the summer collecting information about community-wide and municipal greenhouse gas emissions as part of Indiana University’s Resilience Cohort.
IU will used findings from the community-wide greenhouse gas inventory to help residents and local officials understand the city’s current emissions profile. With this information, the school will then help New Castle create an action plan to reduce emissions, increase energy efficiency and improve air quality.
Findings from the local government operations inventory will be used to help the city employees identify greenhouse gas reduction strategies for city activities.
“It is important to me to obtain an accurate snapshot of our greenhouse gas emissions so that we can develop a focused action plan to utilize more green energy,” said City Councilperson Aaron Dicken.
Dicken is coordinating this effort with: Krystal Stanich, from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library; Jeff Ray, from Healthy Communities of Henry County; and Dr. Helen Steussy, with Henry County Removes Invasive Plant Species (HC-RIPS).
A greenhouse gas inventory is a big first step for Hoosier cities, towns and counties committed to combating the climatic changes that communities in Indiana are already experiencing, such as heavier rainfalls in spring and winter, more river and flash flood events and more freeze-thaw events wreaking havoc on transportation infrastructure and potholes.
The inventory process will provide 2019 data on the amount of energy consumed, the diversity of energy supplied to the grid, vehicle fuel use within the city boundary, the amount of waste generated within the city boundary and more.
The Resilience Cohort program was established in 2019 by IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute to match Indiana local governments with the tools, training, and expertise needed to measure and reduce local greenhouse gas emissions.
New Castle is joining more than 30 Indiana local governments that participating in the program this year to measure local emissions, ratify greenhouse gas reduction plans, and enact green projects to reduce emissions.
As part of the greenhouse gas inventory cohort, the City of New Castle has access to technical resources, a peer network, and training through ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, a nonprofit that specializes in helping local governments with emissions inventories.
To keep costs low for local government participants, IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute offers the Resilience Cohort program at a subsidized rate with financial support from the McKinney Family Foundation and the Duke Energy Foundation.
“We are delighted that so many Indiana communities are taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and enhance local air quality,” said ERI Implementation Manager Andrea Webster. “The findings from these greenhouse gas inventories will provide a roadmap for local officials to address emissions produced in their own backyards, improve public health, and strengthen the resilience of Hoosier communities.”