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Metro General Services unveils dashboards showing Nashville emissions decline, rising solar and building energy savings
Summary
Metro General Services presented three public dashboards — greenhouse gas inventory, solar generation and high‑performance building — showing community emissions down 10% since 2014, municipal operations emissions down 25%, and measurable energy and water savings in LEED facilities, officials said at a Sustainability Advisory Committee meeting.
Metro General Services presented three public dashboards at a Sustainability Advisory Committee meeting that the agency said make its greenhouse gas accounting, solar generation and high‑performance building data publicly accessible and easier to track.
The dashboards — a greenhouse gas emissions inventory updated to 2022 calendar‑year data, a solar generation tracker and a high‑performance building dashboard — are intended to increase transparency and to help Metro measure progress toward emissions and energy‑performance goals, Jennifer Westerholm, Office of Sustainability, Department of General Services, said. "These new inventories are based on 2022 calendar year data ... they're really the most accurate and comprehensive to date," Westerholm said.
The greenhouse gas inventory presents both a countywide (community) view and a municipal‑operations view. Westerholm said community‑level emissions in 2022 were about 10% lower than in 2014 and municipal operations emissions were about 25% lower over the same baseline period. Per‑capita emissions were 15% lower in 2022 than in 2014, she said, and overall energy consumption rose 5% while population rose about 6% between 2014 and 2022, a divergence the office describes as a decoupling of growth from emissions.
Westerholm emphasized transportation remains the largest share of city emissions and said the inventory shows transportation at nearly 53% of total emissions for 2022, noting part of that increase reflects an improved method for accounting for airport emissions. She also identified municipal solid waste as a growing source: tonnage and associated emissions rose about 55% from 2014 to 2022.
On municipal operations, Metro facilities account for about 4% of total community emissions, Westerholm said, but are important to track because the city has the most agency over those assets. She said building energy remains the largest component of municipal emissions (about 46% of the municipal total), and that Metro facilities used roughly 7.5% less energy and produced about 33% fewer emissions than in 2014. Westerholm also highlighted Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) energy reductions: "MNPS emissions per employee ... have decreased 48% since 2014," she said.
The solar dashboard consolidates generation monitoring across Metro properties back to 2010, updated monthly, and lets users toggle by project type (ground, rooftop), whether a project is behind‑the‑meter for a facility, and by individual facility. Aaron (General Services data staff) was identified as the staff member who updates the solar data. Westerholm said Metro subscribes to 510 panels of a community solar program that NES installed in 2017 but the dashboard tracks Metro properties' solar only. She highlighted Metro Water Services as an example of an agency that has deployed significant solar because of available land and high electricity demand.
The high‑performance building dashboard presents operational energy and water savings for General Services‑managed LEED facilities compared with non‑LEED peers. Westerholm said lead (LEED) buildings managed by General Services saved nearly 240,000,000 kBTU of energy and 25,000,000 gallons of water across the 2019–2024 reporting period, and that those energy and water savings correspond to roughly $7,500,000 in avoided utility expenditures.
Westerholm told the committee the greenhouse gas dashboard was launched on Earth Day (April 22) and that the solar and high‑performance building dashboards would be published and made available next week; she also said the greenhouse gas inventory is statutorily required to be presented to Metro Council by June 30 each year. Committee members and staff discussed next steps for public access and for integrating the solar tracker with a planned Renewable Portfolio Standard tracker that would model Metro’s electricity use and off‑site renewables.
The department requested user feedback and said the dashboards will be posted on nashville.gov when live. Westerholm and other General Services staff said they welcome questions and will send links to the committee once the remaining dashboards are published.
