By: Evan Bertolli

As you probably know, we geek out about data here at Reset, especially when that data is a step in the right direction for more government transparency. So you might imagine that when we heard that the EPA has released the first results of its new Greenhouse-Gas (GHG) Reporting Program, along with an interactive web portal, we clicked right over to see what was up.

The data and correlated interactive map reflects information collected by the EPA’s Greenhouse-Gas Reporting Program, which requires facilities that emit over 25,000 metric tons or more of GHGs annually to report their emissions to the EPA. The program also requires certain suppliers of natural gas, petroleum products and industrial gases to report the GHG quantities that would result from the release, combustion or oxidation of these products.

Greenhouse-Gas Emissions In San Francisco

San Francisco has three facilities that are required to report to the EPA’s GHG Reporting Program. One is located downtown — less than six blocks from where I sit writing this blog — pumping out 66 kMT CO2e (kMT = thousand metric tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent emissions). Click here to see how much CO2e you produce.

The facilities in SF are relatively small though, considering that the largest GHG producer in California sits right across the bay at the Richmond Chevron Refinery, producing 4,521 kMT CO2e. But knowledge is power, and this type of transparency is exactly what Gov 2.0 is all about.

We also love to see that the EPA is making this information available in an interactive portal, making it simple to see what all those numbers mean and where all the GHGs are coming from. They also make the raw data available in spreadsheets so that data geeks like us can start to crunch some numbers and figure out more about our GHG emissions and advocate for change.