Environmental Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. I'd like to call to order this special meeting of the Environmental Advisory Committee on May 6, 2026. Um, and part of the agenda is this point to open it up as any public comments. Seeing there there are none, the single agenda item is a presentation of the local climate action plan by the Penn State University students and we welcome them. Thank you. Nice to have you here. This presentation is part two of the work that they have produced uh by this Penn State team and the first was a communitywide greenhouse gas inventory which will be referenced in this presentation. So we thank you for that. Um we consider this presentation educational opportunity for township management. the EAC and its residents and it will as it provides various ideas related to lowering our greenhouse gas footprint. And lastly, um I would ask that we leave all questions to the end of the of the presentation. So with that, we can turn it over to our students.

Will you be going through your PowerPoint? Yes. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and share that and then you can just tell me when you're ready for me to advance. Okay, perfect. No. Um so we're here with the local climate action program and um we have uh created a climate action plan. So a cap and in the fall we did a greenhouse gas inventory report and um for this presentation it's specifically a climate action plan. So and thank you for having us. Thank you for being here.

So my name is Isabelle. I'm a senior at Penn State studying civil engineering.

I'm McKenzie. I'm a senior at Penn State studying earth science and policy. And I'm Ellie Brown. I am a thirdyear student majoring in geography and political science. And so before we get started, I just wanted to introduce some of the people who make this project possible. On the left we have Chris Nate who is our primary point with the energies programs office and he helped um provide the technical support and financial support as well for this project. Um, in the middle we have Brandy, Peter, and Kelly who were our instructors for this two semester course. And we mostly worked with Peter this semester to produce the documents and presentation that you'll see later. And then finally, we have Melanie Aurola who works for and they were responsible for the technology for our greenhouse gas report that we presented last semester. And of course we have um we worked closely with Jeff, Melissa, and Bernie who are you probably all know very well.

Yeah.

And so to begin, our team was asked was tasked with two related documents for meas. That's the climate action plan and a priority action guide. The climate action plan or CAT sets the foundation. It looks at where greenhouse gas emissions are coming from locally across four sectors. energy, transportation, waste, and land use, and organizes that into a set of sector specific goals, each paired with few potential actions. It's important to note that this is not an implementation plan and does not rank priorities or lay out step-by-step execution. Instead, it's meant to clarify options and highlight where local decisions can actually make a difference. Next we have the priority action plan which guides um which directly builds off from that structure but adds one key element real world examples. Each chapter includes a case study from another community not as recommendation but as a way to show what these ideas can look like in practice. And this is especially relevant right now as Mckis is already seeing higher temperatures and more frequent rainfall which are starting to affect infrastructure, energy demand and long-term maintenance. And because many of these systems are shaped locally, the township has a real role in how these challenges are handled moving forward. In terms of methodology, this work draws on local greenhouse gas data, regional climate projections, and existing township plants. We then organized everything into a consistent format to keep the documents clear and usable. Overall, the goal here is to support the next phase of discussion. These documents don't block the township into a path. Rather, they give a structured starting point for deciding what comes next. Next slide. So, as mentioned last semester, we conducted a communitywide greenhouse gas

inventory to quantify the emissions produced within Macanas. This inventory utilized available data from 2024 to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide and methane that is produced from activities within mechanism's boundaries. Um I did want to point out that there is a formatting error on the current pie chart that is depicted that uh kind of does not accurately reflect the distribution of emissions from each sector. But we did catch this and it has been updated in the current deliverables that are going to be distributed. Um so all greenhouse gas emissions were recorded as carbon dioxide equivalents using the global warming potential values issued by the international panel of climate change. um to estimate how much potential these gases have to warm the atmosphere. In partnership with Ikley's green climate cities framework, we estimated over 174,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent produced in 2024. These emissions are produced from five sectors. Commercial energy, residential energy, transportation, waste and wastewater and agriculture, forestry and other land use or AFU. Um, we see from this pie chart how the sectors generate emissions and the largest contributors are residential energy with 36% of emissions, transportation at 34% and commercial energy at 27%. And while transportation and energy produce the most greenhouse gases, we do propose climate action goals that address all five of these sectors. Next slide, please. So, as mentioned, we will be we did develop a climate action plan that outlines suggested goals that can be taken to address the emissions from all five of these sectors. And we additionally align these goals with the EAC's initiative to achieve the platinum certification for the Pennsylvania the

sustainable Pennsylvania community certification program. The greenhouse gas inventory that we conducted in fall 2025 helped the EAC renew MCA's gold certification earlier this year. And the next steps to achieving platinum include energy use intensity reduction and greenhouse gas reduction. So our climate action goals highlight some opportunities to take these steps and continue on with this momentum. Next slide please. So our first sector we have is residential energy which um as previously mentioned makes up 36% of uh carbon emissions um due to the use of fossil fuels for heating and cooling systems, lighting systems and appliances in homes and residential buildings. So increasing energy efficiency in homes and residential buildings is one goal that we suggest that reduces emissions and can be supported through a actions such as implementing energy retrofits in homes and promoting programs for energy efficiency barriers. Not only do these actions reduce demand on the electric grid, but it saves electricity costs and improves indoor air quality. And then reducing the number of residential buildings that rely on fossil fuels and renewable source renewable sources is another goal that we suggest. Investing in residentialowned renewable energy projects and developing financing mechanisms to fund these projects makes clean energy more accessible and affordable for Macless residents. Next slide please. So next we look at commercial energy which makes up 27% of emissions. Similarly, emissions in the sector are produced from heating and cooling and air conditioning systems as well as lighting and other appliances. So, increasing energy efficiency in existing commercial and mun municipal buildings is another goal and a great opportunity to reduce building emissions. Um, providing tools for commercial building owners to conduct

energy audits and supporting municipal building efficiency through state programs can go a long way way in reducing energy consumption. And then lastly, another goal, replacing current energy resources with renewable energy systems can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decarbonizing the commercial electric grid. Addressing greenhouse gas emissions as the energy source is one of the most effective methods of reduction and the promotion of existing of the promotion of existing funding programs for renewable projects and commercial buildings such as commercial property assessed clean energy programs or CPACE or PA solar could help incentivize a full transition to electrical or solar energy for existing buildings. So another sector is transportation. The transportation sector contributes to 34% of McCandless Township's emissions and there's a series of goals that could be targets in order to create more sustainability within the sector within this sector. So the first is by encouraging more public transportation and one way of doing with doing this is collaborating with Pittsburgh's regional transit to increase public transit use within and out of Macas. So, this would reduce the number of vehicles entering the township and decrease energy used, creating many benefits such as better air quality, less traffic, and also just less um also just less road noise is a big one, too. Um and then the second target is to support electric and hybrid vehicle infrastructure. So, one way to do this is by partnering with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Nevi program to determine funding available for EV infrastructure. So, that's also the second goal. And then a third goal is to create more sidewalks and biking trails. So, there's been a series of actions throughout the township to

implement safer walking paths, such as in 2019 when town councilman Jack Casey helped support the action of creating walking paths that connected neighborhoods north Alagany High School and the businesses in the Wexford Flats along with a walkable connection to the 46 mile Rachel Carson Trail. Um, so through creating more paths, not only is it safer for the public, but it also supports sustainability in the catchup. Okay, so turning to waste management, the sector makes only about 2% of emissions. And while that may seem small, it's actually one of the areas where the tonic can act most directly. Unlike energy or transportation, which depend heavily on outside systems, waste is shaped by everyday local decisions such as how materials are used, how they're disposed of and how programs are managed. A lot of the opportunities here begin upstream as reducing waste before it enters the system through purchasing choices or material use is often more effective than trying to deal with it later. And because of that, several goals focus on source reduction. But at the same time, recycling and diversion still matter. In many cases, the issue isn't whether programs exist, it's whether people use them correctly. Therefore, improving access, simplifying guidelines, and reducing confusion can go a long way. One example in the priority action guide comes from Upper Marian Township in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2024, they adopted an ordinance targeting common single-use items like plastic bags and styrofoam containers, phasing it in gradually and pairing it with clear guidances for businesses. And that's what it kind of looks like. And what stands out about this um program is it focus on prevention, reducing waste at the point of use rather than relying on managing it later. So while the sector represents a

smaller share of emissions, it's one of the clearest opportunities for visible near-term progress. And next slide, please. And finally, we have agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. And this sector represents about 1% of emissions. And however, its importance goes well beyond that number. Much of what defines mechanist such as its tree canopy, open spaces, and residential landscapes fall into this category. These aren't just background features. Rather, they directly affect heat, storm water, and overall performance. And because of that, the focus here is on protection and long-term stewardship. In many cases, maintaining what already exists, such as open spaces and tree canopy, can be just as impactful as adding new interventions. And once those assets are lost, they're difficult and expensive to replace. There's also an opportunity to be more intentional moving forward. That means thinking carefully about how development interacts with natural systems, incorporating sustainable landscaping, and using design approaches that work with existing conditions rather than against them. The sector also closely is closely tied to resilience. But natural systems are maintained and integrated well. They can absorb rainfall, reduce flooding, and help moderate temperatures extremes, functions that will only become more intense in the future. So there's also there's a series of steps can take next. So what is next? McCandless's environmental advisory committee can first recommend longerterm priorities. Second, we can establish education opportunities around sustainability. And third, we can also identify short-term high visibility and

cost-saving projects for the long term. So, yeah, thank you for your time. Just a a quick question. Does it from my perspective? I thought the uh forest and everything would be taking greenhouse gases out, you know, and and that's, you know, why we want green spaces and stuff like that is is to take the carbon dioxide and and stuff out of the air and purify it and also with the uh canopy to to keep the uh temperatures uh from rising and so forth. Um, so I'm curious why you have it listed as a contributor to greenhouse gases rather than something that takes away greenhouse gas.

Yeah, I would say it does both. So the tree canopies they when we did our greenhouse gas um report it showed mostly a negative number showing that um a lot of it was contributing to a lot to removing the carbon dioxide. So um you're correct on that Peter because

yeah sure um so in the in the clear path software um that that they use there is um so it is a net source because of changes to land use from any small amount of agricultural production that could happen here. um your trees are sinking carbon um and that is reflected in the clear path software that they used. Um so I guess the answer is you're right and everything that you said is incorporated actually into the um into the emissions profile that is behind this. So um but I if you were to do a deliberate initiative for like a young forest initiative or you know um a really large street tree initiative with many many thousands of trees, you would be able to calculate that as a negative emission in and the update to an inventory. We we Bernie has a an active program of trying to uh help land owners establish more trees and so forth.

Yep. Be great. trees are the answer just to that particular category. In a lot of municipalities, the emission value would be higher because a lot of it would have to do with agriculture specifically, which in our community is much smaller. It's also a big part of that bucket that you saw there. Okay. Which I'm assuming is like why waste water is included in that as well. It's like runoff and all sorts of stuff.

So waste water is incorporated into the waste sector. And when we did the report, it was more waste and wastewater reduction. However, a lot of we found that a lot of the your um where the how you count uh the greenhouse gas emissions is actually outside of our township boundaries. So then so there even though you are technically producing the waste, it gets counted elsewhere. Yeah, that makes sense.

That would be scope three. I don't think our inventory really kind of Yeah. And then for all the um the reason why I just focused more on waste was because I felt that I found that there was a lot more possible actions that um for waste that might be I would say a little easier to implement compared to the waste. So, so how McCandless um how did how do we match or how do we compare to other communities of our size um across Pennsylvania?

Um so there are it's I think McCandless in Alageney County is a bit difficult to compare to neighboring communities since McCandless has a much larger population than a lot of other um Alageney County municipalities. Um, but I will say I think that McCandless is on a really great front in terms of taking initiative to develop a climate action plans because that's not something we find super available in other municipalities besides like the city of Pittsburgh which you know through their sustainability based programs either through um connect or um other sustainability like grouping initiatives grouping communities together. I think McCandless is kind of on the forefront of like taking action as a municipality themselves rather than um you know kind of going with these other organizations if that makes sense. And Jeff, were you all were you asking about the emissions profile too or well that that got to something I hadn't even thought about. So I you know thank you for that. But but yeah, so so the actual number um you know based on the size and and you know and our our population I know that um I thought when we first did this we discovered that we were probably in you know a pretty nice um we're a good company with one of the lower emissions

based based on yeah I would also say so something we didn't discuss is that we also considered industrial energy emissions um in our greenhouse gas inventory but those would also be considered kind of scope 3 emissions because there are no industrial facilities within MCAS's boundaries. So, MCandless does fare very well to other municipalities because there are no industrial facilities within them,

especially when you're looking at Alag County. We talked about that during in December when they presented the greenhouse gas or even Yes. I had a question too like when you're doing it for a canless say versus pine or whatever and the population difference how you you're just doing it from a canless but you don't do it by per capita you can look at that metric as well

that that to me is is a metric um I think is is good you know as far as what the per capita uh emissions are um because I think you can find some communities with low populations that have very high emissions and and then you can have, you know, a dense population, but because of how things are structured, you don't have uh that much emission per capita.

Do I remember right, it was around seven or eight times per I I apologize. I don't have the exact number off the top of my head. However, I do remember when creating the slides for our um fall semester presentation that we did have a per cap we had both the total and a per capita and I believe that we compare we compared it with the township which is actually where I'm from and it's a very similar population and um geographically very similar as well and I believe that they were around the same around the same numbers. The overall state was much higher, but that also is because it includes a lot of the industrial processes that you don't really find in a municipality of this size. Partly the reason for the per capita too is is that when we're dealing with the public talking about programs, I think it's people understand it more, you know, that per capita, this is this is what you're doing. And so, you I just think it's an easier way to address a public issue. Um, and another thing to be aware of, um, so all of the great suggestions of different goals and ideas that they shared with us today, these are things that we'll be able to talk about as a municipality as we're working to sustain our gold certification with sustainable PA and work toward the platinum. We do have to be incorporating new programs and we do have to be working on reductions for greenhouse gas emissions. Those are all requirements. I was gonna say your suggestions that you made seem really good for like scalability depending on what it is.

You gave us lots of good suggestions of even small progresses are one sidewalk we're never going to get.

We're working on it. Hey, we'll get there. Well, in the cap itself, which is very detailed and it breaks down each category in each emitter of of of greenhouse gas, you know, the the 37% 36%. Um, and you break down suggestions in there. So, there's a lot of takeaways in there that that you you didn't touch on here, but are available to us to move forward. Um, you know, one of the things that struck me was the graphics about the expectation of heat in this area and precipitation in this area. Um, can you talk to that a little bit and then tell us where where you where you pulled that data from or pulled that you know those those graphics from?

Yeah, so I pulled that mainly from the I believe Pennsylvania departments. They published a report I believe in 2024 round. Yeah, it's it's it's from the last um uh climate action plan. Is is that the we're talking about the the the the graphs that have the blue and they get more blue, right? Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's from the D's uh climate impact assessment. Yeah. Yeah. And it it talks that we have x amount of 90 degree days now and it's going to increase to, you know, something that

Yeah. I believe that they um estimated that you could see up to by mid-century you could see up to like three months of 90 degrees weather which is just very scary to think about especially in a place like Pennsylvania where we're not Arizona.

I left Texas I didn't want to come back. Sure. Um I also did want to point out that our slides and the priority action plan is very like condensed in the actual report. Um we have in some sections up to like four goals that you could think about and at least like I would say on average like four actions per goals that you can also think about. So, it's we planned this in a way that you could get like you could have um no matter what you could have picked something out of it. You're supposed to not want to do something. You're supposed to like think, "Oh, this isn't for us." You're supposed to be like, "Yeah, we just wanted to make our document flexible for you guys

as you guys know your time better than we do." Yeah. So, and then there's both the climate action and or both the climate action plan, but also the greenhouse gas inventory report that we created before too for back on inition

and they they they pointed out um like on Isabelle's slide the property the commercial property assessed clean energy avail that availability for commercial properties. properties and then the pen the solar center um the get solar program and they are always looking to assist municipalities if um Leo Kowalsski and and Sharon Pillar are you know really they're always looking for folks so there are a handful of really very specific um resources available in there too we may really One of our prior members on on the EAC was a professor of sustainability at PIT and uh he did a lot of work with solar.

Great. And at that time with several EAC members and him uh and some of the town management uh went to all the different flat roof places and everything talking about solar and everything and and it just really never panned out. I think there was one one commercial uh taker on that that project. Yeah. And they spent they spent a good bit of time on that. Are there any questions from anybody on um virtual today? And

I just want to say thanks to the students and Peter for, you know, pulling this together for us. It's a nice project that it really gives us some information as well as your recommendations for strategies that we can do. So, I want to thank you. So, I know this was an incredible amount of time that the students put in in addition to their studies. So, thank you, Peter, for the guidance on, you know, getting this team to just do an incredible job for the township. And hopefully it gives us a working document to get to platinum, which I know was the goal uh for sustainability and and really some tangible metrics to work with. So, I thank you very much. Thank you guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Um yeah, just to follow up with that, um a lot of what Bernie just said. Yes, thank you for all of this. This is wonderful. Um I did want to go back um when you were talking about increasing um energy efficiency within homes and residential things. Um, are there any specific um, uh, targets that we could look at for like something residential to promote within the town that come to mind um, that you think something a municipality the size of ours would be successful at?

I'm not entirely sure off the top of my head any specific programs. I will say I something I referenced in the priority action guide was that um Pittsburgh had launched a residential energy uh energy efficiency program to support their neighborhoods in um kind of being retrofitted for energy efficiency and solar measures. So, I think that's kind of a good case study to work off of, whereas they're addressing their neighborhoods kind of on a a smaller scale rather than looking at the entire city. So, that's one program that maybe doesn't apply to MacArth specifically, but I think it's worth taking a a look at. Yeah.

Um, the other thing is kind of unrelated, but I do know that like the energy company will provide for free like an assessment of your energy efficiency at your house. So, it might be worth like advertising and encouraging people to do that as well. I agree with the energy if I if I remember right in either the priority action guide or the cap I can't it does bring up the act 129

um rebates and promoting those you know sometimes what you'll see is like a a bump in that the other is that like solar co-ops like I don't know if anyone in Mandless ever participated in a solar co-op organized by solar united neighbors I know that solar united neighbors has been active in Alageney County, but I don't know. We never looked into whether or not it was active here. Monica Kerry is the Pennsylvania organizer for Solar United Neighbors. We've done their strings with them before. And I to add to the solar program, I we just had a Pennsylvania energy development authority meeting yesterday and the Hines endowments has specifically earmarked through the state agency um a grant for schools solar for schools. So currently there there are audits pre- audits available for schools with the idea being in addition to the Hines endowment's funding we would be able to uh at the state level do some matches and really uh right now we're going to do a bond issue for being able to do uh uh solar for schools particularly in western south western PA. So I share that because we could assist with all of our school buildings in terms of how they might be able to participate.

That program is in the cap too. The solar for schools. Well, sounds like I'll have it covered.

Any other questions? If anyone has any other questions to any of our emails. Yes. And and on our at least on my behalf as the instructor, I want to thank everybody for being here. If you guys want to say anything, I'm just really grateful to Jeff, Melissa, and Bernie who spent a huge amount of time with us.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time and it's been so nice and I'm able to get to know you guys and work on um the CAP and then also the report in the fall. We were talking a little bit about it during our a little lunchon meeting before this, but we were so grateful to have this opportunity to really take what we learned in class and apply it into a real world setting because there's just there's one thing one thing is learning what climate change is, but it's another thing to apply that and know the barriers and kind of like limitations of actually applying those goals. So, we're all, I would say, very thankful for this amazing opportunity. Thank you again. All your hard work, ton of work.

Thank you. Yeah, McKenzie, Isabelle, and Ellie um wonder your your work is excellent and um and the residents really appreciate it and the EA appreciates it and and um Tom McCless appreciates it. You guys did a wonderful job. Peter, thank you for your guides, too. Yep, dude. Anybody have anything else?

If there's nothing else, then um I can call this meeting to adjournment. Ajourned. Okay. Can um can we get a a picture of the three? Can we get some pictures in front of your like opening slide or something? Can we just get a motion to adjurnn? Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. And I always need a Yeah, I just need a motion to adjurnn in a second. Thank you. Yeah, we need a second. Yeah, second. Okay. Thank you all.