2023 Blaine County Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Throughout the summer of 2024, Staff members from Blaine County, as well as the cities of Hailey, Ketchum, and Bellevue*, worked closely with data analysts from Lotus Engineering and Sustainability. The team's goal was to complete an updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the year 2023, across the jurisdictions in Blaine County. A greenhouse gas inventory is a detailed list of all greenhouse gases released into or absorbed from the atmosphere in a specific area over a certain time. It shows where emissions come from, like cars, buildings, and waste, and helps communities plan ways to reduce them.

Local governments and other environmental organizations in Blaine County have been tracking greenhouse gas emissions in the Wood River Valley since the early 2000's. With this new 2023 inventory, our community can see some of the direct impacts of the changes brought to the Wood River Valley from the COVID-19 pandemic, including growth in population, increased commuting due to local house challenges, and increase in tourism. We can also study long term emissions trends of the past few decades. Tracking improvements and understanding the effectiveness of certain actions or programs can only be achieved through collecting and studying data. Sustainability managers of Blaine County are grateful to have new data resources that can help foster a more sustainable and resilient community.

 

Results of the 2023 Blaine County Greenhouse Gas Inventory

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  • Across Blaine County, greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors grew by approximately 29%, from 2018 to 2023**.

    • The population of Blaine County grew approximately 8% from 2018 to 2023 as well.

  • In 2023, activities within the City of Hailey produced approximately 87,845 metric tons of emissions (carbon dioxide equivalent). This represents about 20% of all emissions produced from Blaine County in 2023.

    • Hailey's total includes activities and emissions from Friedman Memorial Airport. 

  • Hailey community members produce 9.5 metric tons of emissions per capita (total emissions, divided by total population). For reference, Ketchum's per capita emissions are 25.6 metric tons, Bellevue's per capita is 8.1, and the unincorporated areas of Blaine County report 27.1 metric tons per capita.

  • In the City of Hailey, transportation accounts for 38% of our emissions (including Airport activities), energy use across homes, businesses, schools, and other buildings accounts for 59% of emissions, and the hauling, management, and storage of waste, recycling, compost, etc. accounts for about 2.5% of emissions.


If you have specific questions about the 2023 Blaine County Greenhouse Gas Inventory, please reach out to [email protected]


*The cities of Sun Valley and Carey opted out of participating in data collection and support for the 2023 inventory. Their emissions are accounted for in Blaine County totals, but city-specific data was not made available. 

**The 2018 inventory was prepared during the beginning phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing a diverse team of municipal staff and student interns. While Lotus Engineering and Sustainability utilized the industry-standard protocols for 2023 greenhouse gas accounting - and made their best effort to match data sets and calculation methods between 2018 and 2023 - there are known differences in how emissions totals were calculated between 2018 and 2023. Wastewater treatment emissions totals, for example, did not include data from all municipalities in 2018, because some municipalities chose not to assist in the inventory effort, or did not keep accurate records of activity. 

Lotus Engineering and Sustainability strived to include as much legitimate, relevant, and comparable data as possible in their 2023 greenhouse gas emissions inventory. All greenhouse gas inventories should be considered as a summary of best available data, but not necessarily and exact accounting of all emissions produced. Emissions inventories are one tool available to sustainability managers and local planners when exploring emissions and ways to reduce their impacts on environmental health.Â