Metro Area Profile: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

The Brookings Institution report “Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America” quantifies for the first time the amount and most significant sources of carbon emitted—from highway transportation and residential energy consumption—by the 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2000 and 2005. Substantial variation exists among these “carbon footprints” of metro areas, due in part to their development patterns, rail transit, freight traffic, carbon content of electricity sources, electricity prices, and weather.

To access the entire report

Per Capita Carbon Footprints, 2000-2005
Metropolitan Washington’s per capita footprint from transportation and residential energy use increased 7.20 percent between 2000 and 2005. The average per capita footprint of the 100 largest metro areas and of the nation increased 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent during this time, respectively.

The transportation portion of Washington’s per capita footprint decreased 1.1 percent between 2000 and 2005, compared to an increase of 2.4 percent in the 100 largest metro areas. The residential portion of Washington’s per capita footprint increased 12.8 percent between 2000 and 2005, compared to a slight decrease of 0.7 percent in the 100 largest metro areas.

Overview:

The average resident in metropolitan Washington emitted 3.115 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005 (rank 89/100). This compares with 2.24 tons of
carbon emitted by the average 100-metro resident and 2.60 tons of carbon emitted by the average American from transportation and residential energy.

Highway Transportation: The average Washington resident emitted 1.157 tons of carbon from highway transportation (rank 20/100). The average 100-metro resident emitted 1.310 tons and the average American emitted 1.44 tons from highway transportation.

The average Washington resident emitted 0.984 tons from autos (rank 30th) and 0.173
tons from trucks (rank 10th), compared to 1.004 tons from autos and 0.305 tons from
trucks from the average 100-metro resident.

Residential energy use. The average Washington resident emitted 1.958 tons of carbon
from residential energy use (rank 100th). The average 100-metro resident emitted 0.925 tons and the average American emitted 1.16 tons of carbon from residential energy use.

The average Washington resident emitted 1.611 tons from electricity (rank 100th) and
0.347 tons from residential fuels (rank 58th). This compares to 0.611 tons from
electricity and 0.314 tons from fuels from the average 100-metro resident.