The strategies on the following pages guide our path in meeting our climate goals for the Buildings and Energy sector. Each strategy is supported by a series of detailed actions to be explored and undertaken to carry out the vision and goals.
The residential sector in La Crosse consumes nearly 165 million kWh (kilowatt hour) annually. This is equal to 3,128 kWh per capita, 102.3% of Statewide average. The sector also consumes over 9.5 million therms of natural gas annually, 79.1% of Statewide per capita average.
Commercial and industrial sectors consume over 558 million kWh, equal to 3,389 kWh per job—less than 20% of Statewide average—and 30 million therms of natural gas annually, 65% of Statewide average.
Getting Started with Solar
The city’s developed land use totals 8,662 acres—62% of the total area of the community. According to the US Census, this land supports 21,239 households with 2.21 people per household and 2.45 households per developed land use acre. The community-wide density, including all zoning districts is 3.2 residents per acre. Based on the population changes over the last decade, La Crosse may see a population increase of up to 2.6% by 2030. Studies have found that for every 1% increase in population-weighted urban density, household travel emissions reduce by 0.12% to 0.48%. Based on these, establishing zoning ordinances and incentives guiding future growth into options that increase the density of existing developed land will have positive impacts on decreasing total community-wide emissions per household.
The recommended actions in the CAP are:
High-performance buildings are those which deliver a higher level of energy-efficiency performance—typically 30% better than buildings designed to meet code—while Net Zero buildings are high-performance buildings which also generate as much energy on-site as they consume. Based on the City’s recent new building permit history (shown to the right), as much as 6% of the community’s housing stock and 10-20% of the community’s commercial building stock may be renovated or replaced over a 10-year timeframe. This means that a significant portion of the community’s building infrastructure could be positively influenced through climate action strategies that guide increased adoption of cost effective high-performance and Net Zero energy building practices.
Within La Crosse, approximately 62% of residential heating is provided by natural gas, 29.2% by electricity, 4.2% by propane gas, 2.1% by fuel oil and 1.2% by wood.2 Approximately 0.5%, or 137 households, have no heat of any type in their home. As La Crosse’s electric grid nears carbon neutrality, building heating fuel will become an increasingly important target for emission reductions. Reduction, and ultimately the elimination of all fossil fuel heating (oil, propane, natural gas) will be required to achieve community-wide carbon reductions.
The GHG emissions associated with grid-provided electricity use is anticipated to continue to reduce over the years. Including a focus on consumer driven renewable energy purchases, however, is still a critical need to meet our GHG reduction goals. For residents and businesses that are unable to install on-site solar, purchase of renewable energy through Xcel Energy provides those property owners an opportunity to achieve Net Zero electricity use while supporting an important mechanism in cleaning the State’s electric grid. Meanwhile, for owners of properties well suited for solar, increasing utilization of on-site renewable energy has multiple benefits for a community beyond GHG emissions reductions. Community benefits of increased on-site renewable energy include energy cost savings and increased energy resilience potential. As of 2020 there were 900 households and 13 businesses purchasing renewable energy through Xcel.
Currently, climate-related decisions in building design are frequently based on historic climate data and past trends assuming the climate will remain relatively stable in the future. Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Projected climate impacts represent a number of resilience challenges for our building stock, including potential increases in power disruptions due to increased extreme weather events, increased stormwater management needs and flash flooding potential due to increased heavy precipitation, and increased demand for insulation as well as passive and active cooling systems due to extreme heat impacts. Incorporating resilient building design and infrastructure within La Crosse will greatly enhance the community's ability resilience, particularly among the community’s vulnerable population.
City of La Crosse municipal facilities consumed 19.7 million kWh and 578 thousand therms of natural gas in 2020. Cost effective energy efficiency upgrades will provide both GHG reduction as well as annual operating cost savings benefit. A 15% reduction by 2030 will result in a reduction of over 1,200 MT (metric tons) in GHG emissions and an estimated $250,000 in operating expenses annually.
On-site natural gas combustion represents over 18% of all City of La Crosse municipal operations GHG emissions annually. Reduction, and ultimately the elimination of all fossil fuel heating (oil, propane, natural gas) will be required to achieve community-wide carbon reductions. Initiating a fuel switching program for City facilities is an important priority to achieve significant City operations emissions reductions.
Through a comprehensive energy savings bundle known as a "performance contract” the City currently has 526 KW of installed arrays on the public library, municipal service center, city hall and La Crosse Center. Identifying additional solar installation potential can increase the City's renewable energy portfolio. On-site renewable installations may also provide the City an opportunity to explore the development of micro-grid, energy storage, and other strategies to increase the energy resilience of City facilities.
Building energy use is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from this sector come from direct emissions such as fossil fuels burned on-site for heating or cooking needs—as well as indirect emissions such as fossil fuels burned off-site to supply the building with electricity. Building energy use contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Direct emissions include fossil fuels burned on-site for heating or cooking needs. Indirect emissions can consist of fossil fuels burned off-site to supply the building with electricity. A building's design and maintenance impact how much GHG it emits. Increasing energy efficiencycan help reduce GHG emissions, increase comfort, and result in significant cost saving for homes and businesses.