By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Last Friday we kicked off the first critical step in our City greenhouse gas inventory. We launched an intensive, two-week push to collect all our energy use data so that we can make informed decisions about how to reduce the City’s and the community’s contribution to climate change. We need good data that sets a baseline of our usage now, so we can track how future initiatives we undertake affect our greenhouse gas emissions. The inventory is part of SustainaVille, our plan to become carbon neutral by 2050. And while the inventory is just ramping up, we’re taking steps right now to reduce Somerville’s carbon emissions. That includes the installation last week of new public charging stations for electric vehicles, and the forthcoming delivery of electric vehicles we’re adding to our fleet.

The first charging stations in the Union Square lot and in Davis Square at the rear of the Rite Aid lot are now up and running, along with a station installed at the Department of Public Works for City vehicles. We’ll install another public charging station on the City Hall concourse later this summer and another station for City vehicles at Traffic and Parking on Holland Street. We also purchased four Ford Focus Electric sedans that will be delivered in late September to replace gas guzzling Crown Victoria sedans in our City fleet. New Crown Vics have an average fuel economy of 16 miles per gallon, and when including idle time, that’s reduced to approximately 10 MPG. Meanwhile, the Ford Focus Electric sedans have a fuel economy equivalent to 99 MPH and have almost no idle time, because electric vehicles do not idle the same as vehicles with traditional combustion engines.

Funding for these stations came in the form of $110,000 through the Massachusetts Electric Vehicle Incentive Program that can be used both for fleet vehicles and the Level 2 charging stations we are installing, which are faster than the Level 1, standard wall outlet charging. The state’s Green Community Program also provided a $10,000 grant for the charging stations due to our purchase of four new electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles represent a small but meaningful step toward Somerville’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal. They produce zero tailpipe emissions and most achieve fuel economy ratings higher than the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline, generally costing between 2 and 4 cents per mile to charge. We know the electric vehicles have proven environmental benefits and cost savings for taxpayers in the form of reduced fuel costs.

But vehicle fuel is a small amount of our energy use, accounting for only 4 percent of our total expended energy when measured by British thermal units. Meanwhile, heating oil is 23 percent of our energy use, natural gas is 35 percent and electricity is 38 percent. Vehicle fuel is a small percentage of our total cost, too. In FY14, we spent less than a $250,000 on vehicle fuel. Meanwhile we spent more than half a million on gas heat, approximately $1.5 million on heating oil and almost $2.5 million on electricity.

That’s why we have to work on reducing our energy consumption in those areas. Ultimately everything has to go to electricity, the only energy source that will feasibly convert to renewable sources. That’s why we worked with Energy Services Company (ESCO) Honeywell to increase our energy efficiency.   From 2009 through 2014, Honeywell guaranteed us almost $2 million in energy cost avoidance, and ultimately realized $2.5 million in cost avoidance.

But this is still only one step. Another step is our Somerville GreenTech Program, which is piloting new green technologies in municipal facilities—our first pilot is with Greentown Labs-based weather analytics startup Understory, which has installed solar-powered weather stations on two of our schools. The program also hosts events to provide networking between green tech innovators, municipal officials and others. We’re working with MIT’s Climate Co-Lab on an international contest to collect the best atypical ideas to reduce our carbon emissions.

Correcting course on greenhouse gas emissions requires incremental steps, but I believe our goal for our cities needs to be a fundamental change: carbon neutrality. Adaptation is of critical importance and we will always look for ways to be safer and more resilient in the face of climate change, but what we can easily lose sight of is that those “worst case scenario” climate change projections of tomorrow are based on the actions we take today. We don’t have to get to the worst case scenario. This is why we need to lead. I believe in our ability to set ambitious goals, to not be content with nipping and tucking around the edges, but rather to fervently take on the challenge of global warming. These new investments in charging stations and electric vehicles, and the beginning of our greenhouse gas inventory, are only the next steps in a generational challenge that we embrace.