Government Operations Energy Action Plan
Introduction
The City of Falls Church has climate and energy plans for both government operations and the City as a whole. The Government Operations Energy Action Plan was adopted unanimously by the City Council in July 2023. It considers school and government emissions together. It established a 2030 goal of reducing its own releases by 50 percent below 2022 levels. (The year 2022 was chosen as the City’s base year because full energy and activity data were only readily available for 2021 and 2022, and 2022 had fewer COVID-19 impacts.)
The Plan outlines steps the City can implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy in the years ahead. Specific actions identified in the Plan will need to be funded or adopted in future City budgets or related actions.
Because 69 percent of City emissions are due to electricity, the 50% goal relies heavily on Dominion Energy providing cleaner power as mandated by the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). This is shown in Exhibit 6 from the Plan:
Dominion’s ability and willingness to provide the required renewables-derived power is currently endangered by the planned rapid expansion of data centers in Dominion’s territory. To hedge against this, the City may contract for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and/or Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), as shown in the figure.
Falls Church Government Operations Energy Action Plan (GOEAP) 2023
Read the report by City staff.
Implementation of the Government Operations Energy Plan
City Council and the school system periodically consider a range of policies and investments to implement the Plan. The Plan recommended switching to electric and hybrid vehicles; improving building efficiency; installing solar panels on school and government buildings; and buying renewable electricity (or credits) from the local electric grid. At the one-year point, FCCAN members provided an assessment of progress as of June 2024.