Of the many public and private sector customers NZero’s decarbonization technology and consultative services support, we take great pride in being a sustainability solution city, county and state governments in our home state of Nevada count on to reach their own climate goals. In fact, Nevada is a leader nationwide in this cause, and for good reason: Reno and Las Vegas are the fastest warming cities in the United States, and just this year both cities experienced their hottest June temperatures in recorded history.
Our belief has always been that government leadership plays a crucial role in GHG emissions reduction, largely but not exclusively due to their responsibility for maintaining infrastructure, promoting economic development and ensuring the safety and well-being of its residents. Luckily, Nevada has responded to the urgency of climate change with state-led plans and initiatives, along with multiple cities and counties across the state spearheading sustainability plans, climate plans and other efficiency measures.
NZero has earned the trust of these stakeholders, and in ongoing work done for the City of Reno, Washoe County and in the Governor’s Office of Energy, we’re proud to have shown material impact, helping aggregate disparate streams of energy consumption data, set emissions targets, report on energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and provide critical insights and decarbonization analyses that put officials on the path to reduce both.
The Governor’s Office of Energy contracted NZero to report energy, water usage and GHG emissions for state-owned buildings and provide insights and opportunities to reduce energy, water, and emissions, and save costs.
So we got to work. NZero onboarded 453 sites across 13 departments to the NZero platform covering 16.9 million square feet of gross area, estimated to be 63% of the total state-owned square footage. We trained 47 State employees on how to leverage energy and water data on the NZero platform, putting the power to measure and verify in the hands of operators.
Across 60+ meetings and with 120 stakeholders engaged across Nevada departments, our data and partnership led to recommendations for capital interventions that provide a starting point for reducing State expenditures on energy and water, Marginal Abatement Cost Curves across 8 building types for capital investment opportunities, and reviews of 58 FCA reports to provide qualitative support for recommended projects.
And importantly, the impact is broad-reaching, across multiple bodies of the government. Departments like Agriculture, Corrections, the University of Nevada, Reno, Veterans Services and Wildlife have the data and direction to deploy upgraded systems, initiate renovations and file for grants to cover the cost for intervention investments.
To read Nevada's Climate Innovation Plan from Governor Joe Lombardo's office, go here.
"NZero will help identify areas where the State can invest to make operations more efficient and enable data-driven decision making for cost and emissions reductions, strategic planning and capital investments. NZero allows state agencies to measure energy, water usage and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for state-owned buildings, and it provides insights and opportunities for energy efficiency and cost savings."
According to a study conducted by Climate Central, Reno’s temperatures are rising more quickly than any city in the U.S. since the 1970s. As a result, the city created a robust 2019-2025 Climate Action Plan with the goal of reducing GHG emissions by 28% from 2008 levels. In 2021, they partnered with NZero to capture and track first-party data to confirm their baseline and ensure they meet their 2025 goal.
With NZero, the City of Reno was able to confirm their carbon baseline, understand their operational emissions, and identify areas to be more carbon efficient. Insights from NZero even allowed the city to quantify the value of its existing rooftop solar installations, and identify the optimal hours for charging the city’s electric vehicle fleet to reduce carbon intensity.
“The accuracy of data provided by NZero allows us to position the City ahead of schedule, so we reach our target greenhouse gas reduction numbers,” said Hillary Schieve, Mayor. “The investment in our partnership with NZero is helping our climate goals become a reality, [benefiting] generations to come.”
For more information on our work with the City of Reno, read our article here.
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In line with the State of Nevada, Washoe County committed to reducing GHG emissions to net-zero by 2050, but sought to deliver against a “triple bottom line” – good for the people, environment and economy.
When the County first started working with NZero, they lacked the dedicated personnel and budget to efficiently and accurately aggregate energy and emissions data; at that point building managers monitored individual site data and only reported consumption at various, uncoordinated intervals. Without the full picture that aggregated data provides, the County struggled to create sustainability goals, a pivotal first step toward implementing effective carbon reduction initiatives.
NZero worked alongside Washoe County officials to automate data collection and apply the most accurate emissions factors to pinpoint hotspots and inform what became their ambitious sustainability goals. In a three-pronged approach that included standardizing data collection countywide, setting accurate emissions targets and developing a decarbonization plan, NZero developed a comprehensive data management and collection plan for their operations, including electricity, natural gas and waste for their buildings and parks, street lights, as well as track emissions across their fleet and employee commuting. In addition, NZero’s ability to connect directly to utilities, meters and other operational data sources soon led the team to identify two sites responsible for 46.3% of total County emissions.
With the success they were seeing, the County increased their investment and grew their sustainability team, and with it, updated their goals – now called the Washoe County Green Recovery Plan – to include a 45% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, putting them well on the way to their net zero target.
“NZero’s insights and support have been invaluable to ensuring the County progresses toward our climate goals,” said Kalie Work, Washoe County Recorder. “Thanks to the real-time data we are tracking with NZero, we have the insights necessary to inform aggressive sustainability goals and emissions targets as we prepare our carbon reduction roadmap.”
To share publicly the impact they were seeing Washoe County worked with NZero to launch a customized public portal that reported accurate energy consumption, the percentage of carbon-free energy and Scope 1 and 2 emissions, modeling the kind of sustainability transparency that cultivates constituent support on carbon reduction plans.
“Thanks to the real-time data we are tracking with NZero, we have the insights necessary to inform aggressive sustainability goals and emissions targets as we prepare our carbon reduction roadmap.”
City, county and state. Our technology and expert services, along with our partner network, provide the clarity, transparency and accountability sustainability managers at all levels of government need to execute their plans, as well as show and communicate the progress those plans unleash. In an ever-growing movement to address the impact rising temperatures have and the threat climate change poses if no action is taken, it’s more important than ever to ensure the promises we make have analytics behind them, not just to make better decisions but also maintain the support required from the many stakeholders and constituents that hunger for and are willing to stand up for tangible change. We’re proud to be helping Nevada turn their data into direction and lead the nation to net zero.
By leveraging NZero’s platform, the Airport aligned its operations and land stewardship with ambitious climate goals, proving that even regional airports can lead on decarbonization while protecting their communities.
