(Editor’s note: Click here to read previous Climate Minutes from CFREE. The article below will illustrations can be found here.)
 
By Collette Sizer for CFREE
 
Upfront carbon emissions account for a staggering 13% of global CO2 emissions and require urgent action to address them. But most people know very little about them. What are they?
 
Upfront (often called “embodied”) carbon emissions are those caused by making, transporting, and installing materials in a product, like steel and plastic in a car or concrete and glass in a house. Upfront carbon emissions happen just once, when a material is created and incorporated in a product.
 
Upfront carbon emissions — greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) — are emitted for every object we buy. Those emissions are enormous for cars and houses (in the U.S., 10-20 tons of CO2 for the average car and 30-40 tons for the average house) and contribute strongly to the climate crisis. (10 tons is equivalent to burning five tons of coal.) But mostly we aren’t aware that they are being released.
 
We’re all familiar with operating emissions — greenhouse gases created when we burn fossil fuels to run our car or house. Operating emissions are released throughout the life of the car or house. We’re already working to reduce operating emissions from our homes by improving insulation and switching from gas or oil heat to heat pumps. And more and more of us are buying electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrids. These are great steps. We all must work to reduce operating emissions from every aspect of our life to help slow the rate of global warming.  But we must also reduce or prevent upfront emissions as much as possible, from now on.
 
Why? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has defined a carbon budget for the planet — a fixed amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we can emit before 2050 and still stay within 1.5 or 2° C. of warming. If we emit more than the budgeted amount, the risk of catastrophic warming, which may not be reversible, greatly increases. So, we need to go all out towards reducing both operating and upfront carbon emissions, for the benefit of ourselves, our children and grandchildren.
 
How can I reduce upfront emissions?
 
To reduce or prevent upfront emissions, we should select as many of the following options as are applicable to a purchase we’re considering:

1. Skip the purchase if it isn’t necessary! It has been said that the house/car with the lowest upfront emissions is the one that isn’t built/made. That applies to any purchase we’re considering, from a T-shirt to a townhouse, since everything we buy has upfront emissions associated with it.
2. Purchase a used car or an existing house. (he upfront emissions are already out there!
3. If building or renovating a house:

• • Select materials carefully, opting for those with low global warming impact but also high durability. There are enormous differences in this area between materials that perform the same function. Here’s a visual that illustrates some of the key materials in a home that need to be evaluated. Work with your architect on this, as contractors will likely not be educated in this area yet.
  • Choose used materials when possible. (e.g., doors from a used building supply store, polyisocyanurate rigid insulation from demolished commercial buildings – half the price of new)

4. Decrease the quantity of materials involved by buying a smaller car or house.
5. Buy durable products. Frequent replacement means higher long-term upfront emissions.

And, of course, as we weigh choices through the lens of upfront emissions, we also have to consider operating emissions. We have to work hard at reducing both! This is illustrated very clearly when buying a car. The Green Energy Consumers Alliance has these recommendations regarding the purchase of a car:

• Ask “Do I really need to buy this car?” f you can avoid it, do so.
• If you conclude that you do need to buy a car, get an EV or plug-in hybrid if at all possible. Lifetime emissions, including both upfront and operating, will be far lower than those of a gas-powered car. Charging issues and cost do sometimes make it difficult to own an EV, but long-distance charging is getting a lot easier for owners of non-Tesla EVs as more brands gain access to the extensive Tesla supercharger network. Most brands should have access this year. In addition, other charging networks are growing fast.
• Get the smallest car that will work for you. This will minimize both upfront and operating emissions.

In addition:

• If you absolutely must buy a gas-powered car, hybrids will have the lowest operating emissions. Buy the car used, if at all possible, to avoid new upfront carbon emissions. Same for an EV. There is a growing market for used EVs/plug-in hybrids.
• Consider an e-bike as a second vehicle. Overall emissions are a fraction of those for a car.

Although they are not yet widely known, upfront carbon emissions are a real threat. We can make a difference to our world by considering their impact, along with that of operating emissions, in every purchase we make.
 
CFREE (Carbon Free Residential – Everything Electric) is a subcommittee of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee (GEC). CFREE provides guidance on how households can reduce use of fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions to help Massachusetts meet statewide emissions limits set for 2030, 2040, and 2050. It also provides information about state and federal incentives that help reduce the cost of such changes. For more information, visit lincolngreenenergy.org.

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Lincoln certainly has a lot of trees, but what condition are they in? Should there be more rules about which ones can be cut down or preserved? The new Tree Preservation Study Group, which is gathering information to help answer these questions, presented some of its initial findings at the January 14 meeting of the Planning Board and an updated version of their State of the Town handout.

The group (which is not an official town board or committee) reported on the results of their recent survey about the town’s trees as well as tree regulations in other towns, findings from the Charles River Watershed Association, and information about diseases currently affecting some species of trees in Lincoln and elsewhere. Based on their ongoing research, they may or may not propose specific regulations for Lincoln.

Group chair Susan Hall Mygatt noted that other towns including Concord, Weston and Lexington have tree bylaws or management plans (see page 9 of this PDF, which also includes detailed results of the survey).

Lincoln does in fact have some rules around trees. According to the Conservation Commission’s Hazard Tree Removal Policy, property owners must get permission from the commission before work including tree or brush removal, lawn expansion, ground disturbance, and construction if the project lies in or within 100 feet of wetland resource areas (defined as wetlands, streams, ponds, and 100-year flood zones) as  well as riverfront areas (land within 200 feet of a year-round stream).

Threats to trees from both people and nature

The issue of trees was highlighted recently when a number of mature trees were cut down along roadsides in several locations. A number of old or ailing trees were removed by Eversource because they were seen as a potential threat to power lines in a project that was announced last spring. Those trees were identified in a list from the Department of Public Works, though some were spared after residents asked for specific exceptions during public hearings.

Lincoln Tree Warden Ken Bassett noted that “it’s our call” on which trees are taken down and Eversource is required to demonstrate to the Public Utilities Commission that it’s making efforts to protect services to customers, but the company will “absolutely honor any objection” (though the objector and the town then assume the risk of losing power if the tree in question does in fact fall on a power line, he said.

National Grid was planning to dig a trench alongside part of Codman Road for a gas line repair but was persuaded not to, because it would have fatally damaged the roots of a large tree. Another potential threat to roadside trees is installation of new water mains. Many of them are in need of replacement, work on a segment under Lincoln Road is scheduled to begin this spring.

A bigger issue facing Lincoln’s trees is not road work but natural pests that are killing off trees in Lincoln’s forested areas, particularly the emerald ash borer, “which has clearly made a dramatic impact now in most eastern Massachusetts towns, said Conservation Director Michele Grzenda. Many of the ailing roadside trees targeted by Eversource are ash trees, and the species is listed as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Another threat is beech leaf disease, which is caused by an invasive nematode. The large beech on Route 117 in Weston next to Dairy Joy fell victim to this disease a year or two ago and had to be cut down.