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Page 40 <br /> <br /> <br />18. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions/Carbon Footprint <br /> <br />a) GHG Quantification: For all proposed projects, provide quantification and discussion of <br />project GHG emissions. Include additional rows in the tables as necessary to provide <br />project-specific emission sources. Describe the methods used to quantify emissions. If <br />calculation methods are not readily available to quantify GHG emissions for a source, <br />describe the process used to come to that conclusion and any GHG emission sources not <br />included in the total calculation. <br />b) GHG Assessment <br />i) Describe any mitigation considered to reduce the project’s GHG emissions. <br />ii) Describe and quantify reductions from selected mitigation, if proposed to reduce the <br />project’s GHG emissions. Explain why the selected mitigation was preferred. <br />iii) Quantify the proposed projects predicted net lifetime GHG emissions (total tons/#of <br />years) and how those predicted emissions may affect achievement of the Minnesota <br />Next Generation Energy Act goals and/or other more stringent state or local GHG <br />reduction goals. <br /> <br />Two phases of the project need to be quantified: the construction phase and the homeowner <br />annual operation phase. Greenhouse gases (GHG) commonly include carbon dioxide (CO 2), <br />methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), fluorinated gases (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), <br />hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6), and nitrogen <br />trifluoride (NF3)). The GHGs to be quantified include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous <br />oxide, as fluorinated gases are not typically associated with land use development. There are <br />three types of emissions: Scope 1, 2, and 3. <br /> Scope 1: Direct emissions released from the property. <br /> Scope 2: Emissions associated with offsite generation of purchased electricity. <br /> Scope 3: Emissions from offsite provision of waste management services <br /> <br />All estimated/projected GHG emissions are provided on an average basis using the CO 2 <br />equivalent (CO2eq). To convert methane to carbon dioxide equivalents, a 100-year global <br />warming potential of 28 was used. To convert nitrous oxide to carbon dioxide equivalents, a 100- <br />year global warming potential of 265 was used (45). <br /> <br />Land-Use – Scope 1 <br />There are emissions associated with the development of land. The U.S. Environmental Protection <br />Agency’s report inventoried anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gas emissions and <br />removals from 1990-2021 and was used to calculate the emissions due to land use changes (45). <br />The exchange of CO2 to and from the atmosphere is defined as a ‘flux’ where a negative value <br />indicates carbon sequestration. <br /> <br />The EPA’s report does not have readily available carbon sequestration rates for every land-use <br />type. The sequestration rate of 2.6 metric tons of CO2 per acre per year was based on rates for a <br />forested community as a best-case scenario ‘high-end estimate.’ There are many factors that <br />contribute to the rate of carbon sequestration. The estimates below include several assumptions <br />and do not fully estimate the potential reduction of carbon sequestration. These emissions were