The Washington area ranks as one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions among the country's top 100 markets, according to a new study released by the Brookings Institution. With a carbon footprint the size of 3.1 metric tons per person in 2005, the Washington region came in at 89th out of the 100 biggest metro areas, well above the per-capita 2.2-metric-ton national average. Honolulu boasted the smallest carbon footprint with its average resident creating a little more than 1.3 metric tons in 2005, according to the nonprofit think tank's findings. The Lexington-Fayette area in Kentucky scored the worst with more than 3.4 metric tons per capita.
Despite this area's traffic woes, less than half of its carbon footprint stemmed from transportation, which resulted in 1.1 metric tons per resident. That figure placed this region in 20th place for smallest footprint among 100 markets. Instead, it was this area's residential energy use that dragged down its total. In that category, the D.C. area plummeted to the very bottom of the 100-region list with its nearly 2 metric tons per person worth of carbon emissions, more than double the national average. Indeed, the region's residential energy use shot up nearly 13 percent between 2000 and 2005. In sum, its per-capita carbon footprint swelled by more than 7 percent in that time frame, considerably more than the nationwide growth of 2.2 percent.
The Brookings Institution offered several suggestions on cutting down that carbon footprint nationwide, including providing more public transit, less residential and commercial sprawl, and more incentives for energy-efficient housing retrofits and lifestyles.
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