Sustainable: Buildings continue to pose greenhouse gas challenge

Minnesota continues to struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.

The state last week released data from 2005 and to 2022 that showed continued emissions in three categories related to businesses and housing. Combined, they represent 33% of all emissions in the state, collectively more than agriculture, electricity generation and the leading polluter, transportation.

Still, the state continues to see progress. Overall, emissions have dropped 14% since 2005, according to Katrina Kessler, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. One challenge has been the return to normality after the pandemic when emissions plummeted in 2020 and 2021 before jumping 6.4% in 2022.

That may sound worse than it is. “The trend that we’re seeing in Minnesota is reflected across the nation,” Kessler said, who spoke at a press conference. “In spite of the rebound, emissions from sectors like transportation, electricity and agriculture remain below 2019, levels, which indicates progress in some sectors.”

The state began tracking greenhouse gas emissions every two years as part of the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act. Kessler said the data helps Minnesotans understand climate change “and respond accordingly.”

Industry and buildings remain huge emitters and climbed from 2020 to 2022 by 7% in just two years.

Let’s start with emissions from industry. Commerce Department Commissioner Grace Arnold said industrial emissions, caused by fossil fuel combustion and manufacturing processes, represent almost a fifth of all greenhouse gases.

Industrial businesses, the fourth most significant source of emissions, saw a 23% increase since 2005 in greenhouse gases and currently account for 18% of the state’s net emissions. The state identified the causes as natural gas combustion, petroleum refining, taconite processing, lead recycling, wastewater treatment, industrial solvents and steel, glass and semiconductors manufacturing.

Arnold said that coal has declined as a power source in Minnesota, but industrial concerns continue to use fossil fuels. A report accompanying the data’s release said the state will study industrial and manufacturing processes and suggest strategies for reducing emissions.

“With federal funding and technical assistance, industrial businesses can be national leaders in changing operations to increase efficiency and reduce fossil fuel use through electrification or the use of other greener fuels,” the report said.

The fifth biggest emitter is the residential sector, accounting for 8% of greenhouse gases. Emissions from residential buildings have grown 38% since 2005, mainly from natural gas and oil consumption used to operate appliances people use daily, such as furnaces, water heaters and clothes dryers.

The sector includes emissions from consumer products and provides tiny credit for building materials that store carbon.

The commercial building sector, the sixth biggest emitter, produces 7% of the state’s emissions. Since 2005, emissions have grown 48%, primarily from natural gas, followed by air conditioning, solvent use and medical processes. The report said 2022 was the highest year ever.

So, what’s the answer to driving these commercial emissions? The state report suggests increasing energy efficiency, electrification, building efficiency and a phase-down of high global warming potential hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants.

Arnold highlighted many of those same strategies when asked how to reduce emissions in industry and buildings. She spoke about federal and state programs helping businesses and homeowners install heat pumps for heating and cooling and more stringent building codes introduced by the Department of Industry and Labor.

The Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority, the state’s green bank, provided its first loan last year to The Heights. The new net zero development on St. Paul’s East Side plans to use the loan to begin planning and installing a networked geothermal district energy system, she said.

Investments to electrify heating are a key strategy to reducing emissions. Arnold said her examples “are the kinds of things that are actions that help us to decarbonize. It’s lots of little actions, particularly in those sectors, where you get the benefits of decarbonization of the electricity sector.”

Kessler said transportation represents 29% of greenhouse gases, the highest of any sector, with passenger vehicles and trucks making up the majority of emissions. Emissions from aviation and light-duty trucks such as SUVs and pickups rebounded after the pandemic. Still, they stayed below 2019 levels, while heavy-duty trucks and tractor-trailers saw an increase when measured against the same year.

Agriculture, the second largest source of emissions, has not seen much change since the baseline year. Rounding out the top three carbon emitters is electricity production, which has seen greenhouse gases fall by 50% since 2005. Kessler expects that trend to continue as Minnesota’s few remaining coal plants close over the next few years.

Two areas with the least emissions, waste and land use/forestry, saw favorable results. Though just 1% of emissions, waste dropped 40% from 2005. Land use and forestry sequesters carbon for a net gain.

Both commissioners addressed the Trump administration’s potential impact on clean energy and the Department of Energy’s mission and budget. The DOE funds many clean energy initiatives in Minnesota and other states. State Republicans also introduced bills to slow Minnesota’s 2040 carbon-free electricity statute.

“I’ll just clearly say that the federal government has committed substantial funding to Minnesota for clean energy and climate work, and we are under contract to carry that out for things like the $200 million climate pollution reduction grant,” Kessler said. “We are going to insist that those contracts are honored.”

Arnold said federal and state law has not changed. Democratic and Republican legislators have supported clean energy statutes and programs for nearly two decades. “This is something that has been important to Minnesotans for a long time,” she said.