Climate Report Sets Goals And Urges Lifestyle Changes

Council of Governments Warns Region About Its Habits

The Washington region needs to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades, but without serious changes in the way residents live, the area's growing suburbs, teeming traffic and always-on laptops will combine to increase emissions, according to a new report.

The report, released for comment last week by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, says the Washington area should reduce its emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. The cuts were recommended based on research by a U.N. panel that found that deep reductions were needed around the world to avoid the worst consequences of a warming climate.

But, the report says, even as residents and government officials have become more conscious of the dangers of climate change, the region's cars and power plants are making the problem worse. The report projects that the region's emissions will grow by 33 percent by 2030 and 43 percent by 2050.

It is not clear how the Washington region, or the rest of the world, would reach the reduction goal by 2050. But officials who helped craft the report said residents can make small changes and begin thinking about larger changes in the way they live, work and commute.

"This is not just about changing light bulbs," said George S. Hawkins, director of the D.C. Department of the Environment and a member of the council of governments' Climate Change Steering Committee. The committee, formed in April last year, put the report together. "It's about the patterns of how we live, or have to live," Hawkins said.

Some jurisdictions have begun making changes aimed at reducing their contributions to global warming. Officials in Arlington and Fairfax counties, for instance, have said they will reduce emissions generated by their governments. Montgomery County and the District have required some new buildings to be "green," designed to reduce emissions and other environmental harm.

The council's report, the National Capital Region Climate Report, suggests changes for all of its 21 jurisdictions. The report, which can be found at http://www.mwcog.org, has been put out for public comment until Sept. 30, after which the council will vote on whether to endorse its recommendations. An endorsement, though, would not legally bind any jurisdiction to change its policies.

The council's research forecasts that the Washington area's emissions could grow faster than the national pace. One reason would be the predicted 47 percent growth in the population of the District's outer suburbs by 2030, which could mean more traffic and more vehicle emissions. Another source would be increased energy use, driven upward by the wired lifestyles of residents and by server farms, large buildings containing computer servers, which consume enormous amounts of electricity, in Northern Virginia's technology enclaves.

The council's first goal, set for 2012, is to stop the amount of emissions from increasing. The report sets a goal of bringing emissions to 2005 levels by that year, heading off what it forecasts will be a 10 percent emissions increase if nothing changes.

Council experts said residents can help achieve this goal by taking small steps. The experts suggested turning off lights in unused rooms, switching to power-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs and Energy Star appliances, which must meet strict efficiency guidelines, and buying hybrid cars.

They said, however, that it will be far more difficult to make the deeper cuts planned for 2020 and 2050. Those might require residents to drive less, walk more, or live in different, more compact neighborhoods. And, council experts said, meeting the goals will probably require moves outside the reach of the average Washington area resident, such as the invention of technologies that power cars and homes without generating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

The report says that a full plan for meeting the 2020 target in the Washington region could be created within two years.

Frank O'Donnell, an environmental activist with the District-based Clean Air Watch, said it will be crucial for the council, and other groups struggling to reduce emissions, to find concrete strategies for reaching the far-off goals.

"Anybody can declare that '50 years from now, we're going to do something,' " O'Donnell said. "But if you don't have a road map, it's next to useless."

Still, Alexandria Vice Mayor Redella S. "Del" Pepper (D), a member of the Climate Change Steering Committee, said its members think it is important to set targets that might seem like a stretch.

"We are aware . . . that there would have to be truly a lot of changes. But who knows, by 2050, exactly what the world is going to look like?" she said. "So I think it's important for us to set the goals high."