By Fischer Genau DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
The latest greenhouse gas emissions report from Big Sky Sustainability Network Organization (SNO) shows that emissions are rising and locates opportunities for Big Sky to improve. SNO’s report, the second Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory the nonprofit has conducted, breaks down emissions from 2019 to 2022 to inform sustainability efforts in Big Sky and meet SNO’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Our [Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory] is tracking along the pace we anticipate, because we expect increasing emissions until about 2035 because of the growth rate here,” Lizzie Peyton, SNO’s director of community sustainability, told EBS.
SNO’s report can be viewed here, and more resources, including SNO’s Community Action Plan, are available on SNO’s website.
The data show a 7% increase in emissions from residential energy from 2019 to 2022, but a 2% decrease in emissions from commercial energy, a category which includes energy from large entities such as Big Sky Resort and the Yellowstone Club. The study also showed a 12% increase in emissions from vehicle transportation.
Solid waste emissions decreased by 10%, a sign that SNO’s efforts to educate the public on best practices to reduce the amount of material entering landfills may be working. But Peyton says this drop is largely due to more accurate estimates of emissions produced by Big Sky’s solid waste—SNO conducted a solid waste assessment in 2022 to better assess these numbers. Solid waste only makes up 2.7% of Big Sky’s total emissions, while transportation and residential and commercial energy account for the remaining 96.7%.
“Most of our emissions currently and will continue to come from infrastructure and energy in buildings, especially as we continue to build out at such a rate,” Peyton said.
SNO’s report shows that 63% of Big Sky’s carbon footprint comes from the heating, cooling, and operation of buildings using electricity and propane. In the report, the organization advises architects, builders and homeowners to make use of the Build Better Big Sky platform to design more energy-efficient buildings going forward.
“Encouraging more thoughtful development is really what success looks like,” Peyton said.
The report also recommends other ways Big Sky can reduce its emissions to meet the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 laid out in SNO’s 2023 Community Action Plan. These recommendations include carpooling and creating an effective, energy-efficient transportation system to cut down on car traffic, exploring the feasibility of onsite green energy, and purchasing green energy. Northwestern Energy, Big Sky’s only electricity provider, is working on a Green Power Program that would allow residents and businesses to purchase green energy from sources like wind or solar, while the state legislature is in the process of voting on solar shares through Senate Bill 188. If the bill passes, Big Sky could create its own solar array that residents could then get their energy from. Peyton says purchasing green energy is the fastest way to cut down on emissions.
With Big Sky’s rapid growth projected to continue for years to come and emissions increasing, meeting the goal of net-zero emissions won’t be easy.
“The only way we are going to do this is all together,” Peyton said.
Peyton says SNO’s near-term goal is to slow the growth of the curve of increasing emissions until 2035, the year the nonprofit projects that Big Sky will stop growing. In the meantime, Peyton encourages everyone in Big Sky to do whatever they can to reduce their environmental footprint, whether by making their home more energy efficient or purchasing recyclable products and disposing of them properly.
“I think encouraging people to take their own action that is attainable is the most important takeaway from this,” Peyton said. “And to not get discouraged by the increasing emissions. We knew they were going to happen.”
