City of Houston – Andrea Morgan – 2018

Goals

As the acknowledged “Energy Capitol of the World,” the City of Houston strives to become a leader in sustainability. While developing its first Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, the city enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Andrea Morgan to find ways to maximize the benefits of the new plan and move towards adoption of a greener city vehicle fleet.

Solutions

Upon analysis of the city’s available energy data, Morgan discovered that electricity use had been over-reported by the utility company by almost 200 million kWh. Because of this she suggested changes to improve the accuracy of City electricity usage tracking and ways to make that data more accessible to all City employees. Additionally, she developed a simple greenhouse gas emissions calculator to make it easy for the City to see trends in GHG emissions change over time.

In reviewing the City’s greenhouse gas inventory Morgan also concluded that transportation was a major contributor to carbon emissions and poor air quality in the region. After interviewing stakeholders and reviewing the composition of the City’s fleet, she recommended that the city adopt a long-term initiative to move towards increased procurement of hybrid and electric vehicles and drafted a “Green Fleet Policy,” which gives the city a comprehensive strategy for moving forward.

Potential Impact

On Morgan’s recommendation, development of a new energy usage dashboard is underway. It will offer a more intuitive design that will enable city employees to track municipal energy usage. That, in combination with the greenhouse gas emission calculator will make it easier to gauge the impact that new initiatives have on reducing carbon emissions and track progress towards climate goals. If implemented, her “Green Fleet Policy” will reduce greenhouse gas and other air pollutants in a cost effective manner.