Lotus presents Chaffee County's first countywide greenhouse-gas inventory; transportation is largest source

Lotus Engineering associate Claire Kanter presented Chaffee County’s first communitywide greenhouse-gas inventory for 2024, reporting the county’s total at roughly 300,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent and identifying transportation and residential building energy as the largest emission sources. "The whole county is approaching about 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent," Claire said, explaining the inventory follows the global protocol for community-scale greenhouse-gas accounting.

Lotus walked commissioners through scope 1–3 boundaries, sector breakdowns (transportation ~28% of emissions; buildings about 50% when residential and commercial are combined) and limitations in available datasets—particularly distinguishing visitor (tourism) vehicle miles traveled from resident travel. Claire and Julie recommended follow-up data collection (zip-code–level utility reporting, stronger VMT data) and use of a ClearPath modeling tool so the county can test scenarios such as partial EV adoption, local solar additions and expanded waste-diversion programs. "If we were to transition 50% of vehicles in Chaffee County to electric vehicles… this model will show us what that does from a transportation emissions reduction standpoint," Julie said. Commissioners asked about utility emission factors and how electrification might shift generation needs; presenters recommended coordination with utilities on demand planning and noted the state grid is trending cleaner over time.