Sitka is looking for public input in planning its energy future.
The community is developing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory to establish a baseline for energy use now, in order to better understand where it can become more efficient.
Bri Gabel is the city’s sustainability coordinator. She says that “greenhouse gas emissions inventory” is actually a bad name for the document. There’s really much more to it.
“So a greenhouse gas emissions inventory is a comprehensive report,” she said. “It’s a tool that basically takes all of the energy usage and the sources, and breaks it down by what they are used for, as best as you can, given the available information you have. As nice as it would be to have every single gallon to know where it all goes and where it all ends up being used for, that’s kind of impossible, so we can make some pretty good educated guesses.”
Sitka’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory is currently in draft form. Gabel hopes Sitkans take a look and send her their insights and corrections. Sitka is unique in several respects – for example, unlike communities on road systems, it’s possible to know exactly how much fuel comes into Sitka, and where it’s sold.
But even on an island community, there are some unknowns.
“Boats are a big one,” said Gabel. “That has been a big challenge, because they are not kept track of the same way that cars are. And so we’ve talked to ADF&G and tried to get some information about charters and commercial fishing, but there’s a couple small errors in the report around boating already, just about, like, what the fuel sources are. So we’re really looking for that Sitka lens, that double check of like, hey, are the sources that we’re looking at and the assumptions that we’re using. Is that reality? Or do we need to adjust some of these?”
Gabel says the draft inventor is divided into three main categories: Burn, Buy, and Beyond. “Burn” refers to the direct emissions Sitkans produce in their vehicles and to heat buildings. “Buy” refers to the indirect emissions, like the fossil fuels used to produce electricity – Sitka’s score in this category is zero, since it produces 99-percent of its power from two, large hydroelectric plants. “Beyond” is the most difficult category to calculate, since it includes emissions that originate outside of Sitka’s boundaries – like a commercial airline flight that arrives from Anchorage or Seattle.
The “Beyond” category is where Gabel could most use Sitkan’s expertise.
“As long as you know Sitka and what kind of fuel goes where, that’s probably enough data or knowledge that you really need,” said Gabel.
The deadline to comment on Sitka’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory has been extended to December 31, with an eye to having a final document ready by the spring of 2025. Gabel says it’s not a survey; she just wants to hear the public’s ideas. There’s a list of guiding questions and her email address here.
KCAW’s Erin Fulton contributed to this story.
