Devens is a unique community with a unique GHG profile. Whereas other communities have a more even balance of energy use and emissions across sectors, Devens profile reflects the mix of activities that happen here today, which is dominated by building energy.

While this creates significant opportunities to reduce emissions from industry today, it will be important to watch growth in transportation, waste, and energy use in other sectors as the community continues to develop.

Greenhouse gas emissions from Devens' municipal operations are similar to other local governments, with buildings and facilities as the largest contributor followed by wastewater, fleet vehicles, potable water pumping, employee commute, and streetlights.

In Devens, the 2nd largest source is from wastewater treatment, which includes both the energy needed to move large volumes of water but also the emissions from the wastewater treatment process itself.

Energy use is generally the largest source of GHGs and it is used for a variety of different purposes across our municipal services. Energy to run and heat buildings, light our streets, pump water and wastewater, and to power our vehicles all contribute to the GHGs emitted from our municipal operations.

Just as at the community scale, the greatest opportunity to reduce GHGs from Devens' municipal operations is by minimizing energy use, but also shifting its energy to electricity and renewable sources. More electric vehicles will shift energy away from gasoline and diesel, and efficiency improvements can minimize gas use for heating.