Project Details
| Description | Transportation Sustainable Solutions Environmental GHG Inventories & Climate Action Plans |
| Location | Pinecrest, FL |
| Client/Owner | Village of Pinecrest |
The Village of Pinecrest Sustainability
To ensure that the Village of Pinecrest was making strides towards becoming a sustainable community, RS&H has worked with them on a greenhouse gas inventory and a STAR Certification.
GHG Inventory and Forecast Development / Quantifying GHG Emissions Reduction Benefits of Green Initiatives
RS&H built on the initial Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory completed for Pinecrest in 2013, by updating the original inventory and adding a new inventory year (calendar year 2014). In addition, RS&H prepared a report which helped Pinecrest communicate the benefits of its sustainability/GHG initiatives to the public and other stakeholders. The effort included three separate tasks.
Task 1 included assisting the Village of Pinecrest with transferring its 2010/2012 Community GHG Inventory, previously completed by RS&H in 2013, into ICLEI’s ClearPath Cloud-based software platform. This effort resulted in a valuable tool for maintaining and updating the GHG Inventory, which will also facilitate forecasting emissions trends and tracking the Village’s emissions reduction efforts going forward.
Task 2 was designed to help Pinecrest tell a credible and well-documented story of its sustainability accomplishment and the success of the GHG reduction initiatives already implemented by the Village through its Green Action Plan. Under this scope, RS&H quantified the emissions reduction and financial benefits of the Village’s current sustainability initiatives. Pinecrest’s sustainability initiatives improve the quality of life in the community, help the environment, and make government more efficient.
RS&H’s report summarized the benefits of ten initiatives Pinecrest undertook to reduce its carbon footprint, both for government operations and for the community at large. The analysis found the ten initiatives avoided more than 3,100 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (MTCO2-e) between 2010 and 2016. The green initiatives also saved Pinecrest over $106,500 during the same period. Over the next 10 years, these projects will continue to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, potentially saving more than 10,500 MTCO2-e and $583,500 by 2026.
Task 3 focused on an update to Pinecrest’s Community-wide and Local Government Operations Inventories for the 2014 calendar year, using the ClearPath platform. The Final GHG inventory report provided to Pinecrest at the conclusion of the project allowed Pinecrest to track GHG emissions reduction progress relative to its established targets. In addition, RS&H analyzed emissions trends, and provided recommendations to help Pinecrest further reduce emissions, both in government operations and the surrounding community.
Village of Pinecrest STAR Certification
In 2018, RS&H assisted the Village of Pinecrest in applying for STAR Community Rating System certification by completing analyses and documentation for selected STAR goal areas including:
- Climate and Energy
- Built Environment
- Economy and Job
- Education, Arts and Community
After reviewing data provided by the Village, RS&H identified sustainability policies, programs, and data that supported STAR credit.
RS&H Uses Expertise to Document STAR Certification Credit
RS&H documented STAR credit and completed worksheets demonstrating quantitative sustainability metrics had been achieved. RS&H then transmitted these documents to Pinecrest for direct upload into STAR’s online reporting tool.
RS&H’s efforts allowed the Village’s internal sustainability team to focus their efforts on STAR focus areas within their range of expertise, while relying on RS&H to complete highly technical aspects of the STAR certification effort.
Village of Pinecrest Receives 3-STAR Certification
The Village of Pinecrest was awarded a 3-STAR Certification Level, demonstrating the strength of Pinecrest’s commitment to create a resilient, sustainable, and highly livable community.
