Understanding Our Community's Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The first step to reducing carbon dioxide is to develop an inventory of the most significant emission sources in the community. This provides a starting point from which the town can track its progress towards a 60% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, and suggests where it might be best to focus attention. The graph below shows the most recent (2006) carbon emission inventory for Chapel Hill , developed by the students of the Institute for the Environment .

As you can see, there are five main sources areas, or sectors, responsible for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions in Chapel Hill (Industry, a sixth sector, does not appear here because the town has so little industrial activity). Check back to this webpage periodically and watch as the bars above change as each sector makes progress!

When considering how you may be able to impact overall carbon dioxide emissions in Chapel Hill, think about the multiple ways that you might produce carbon dioxide emissions in your life. It is tempting to think that we each only contribute to the overall emissions within one area or sector. For example, a business owner may research ways to improve the carbon dioxide emissions levels at his or her business by using the information on this website for the commercial sector. This business owner may, however, have an even greater impact on the community's emissions if he or she makes changes within their residential life or in their mode of transportation. By thinking about the many possibilities for reduction that cross the borders of our daily activities, we can maximize our individual impacts on the carbon dioxide emissions budget of Chapel Hill .

For sector-specific instructions about the process of making a CRed pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and for guidance on getting the resources needed to meet that pledge, click on any of the hotlinks below: