Dane County Office of Energy & Climate Change

Dane County Internal Emissions Progress

Dane County government leads by example in reducing emissions from our internal operations. Internal operations refers to emissions produced through the delivery of Dane County services; this includes our buildings and vehicles, land operations, and other county activities.

Internally our goals are to:

Transition to 100% renewable offset energy by 2025, which was achieved in 2023; and
Be carbon neutral across our facilities, fleet and land operations by 2030.

This page highlights our progress on these internal goals and other examples of how we lead by example. A full summary of Dane County's internal emissions for 2022 is available here.

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Examples of Dane County's Leadership on Its 2030 Goal:

The County achieved 100% renewable offset electricity in 2023, two years ahead of our 2025 goal
The move away from dirty electricity cut the county's building and vehicle emissions by 60%
Land & Water Resources’ science-based strategies to increase the county's climate resilience and to maximize the carbon stored on agricultural land
The County's new Public Safety Communications Center and its new Elections Center will both feature geothermal heating and cooling as well as on-site solar installations, further greening our operations.

Other examples of Dane County’s environmental leadership:

Waste & Renewables' innovative facility at the landfill that captures, cleans and compresses methane emissions into Renewable Natual Gas (RNG), which the County sells as clean transportation fuel
Waste & Renewables' proposed Sustainability Campus will support a circular economy where waste is a resource, not a liability

100% Renewable Offset Electricity

From the Dane County Regional Airport and Alliant Energy Center to the Henry Vilas Zoo, the electricity in all Dane County operations is 100% renewable offset. That means we match every kilowatt of electricity we use in our operations to a kilowatt of renewable electricity that goes onto the local electric grid. Dane County is the first county in Wisconsin to be 100% renewable offset and the 4th county in the U.S.

Before 2020 Dane County had rooftop solar on more than a dozen county facilities, but these installations represented a small portion of the County’s electricity.
In December 2020 the solar at the Dane County airport came online, increasing the county’s renewable electricity substantially starting in 2021.
In mid-2023 Yahara Solar came online, taking the County to 100% renewable offset.
Going forward, as the County electrifies more of our buildings and vehicles, staff will ensure that Dane County remains 100% renewable offset through new solar projects.

Dane County's Renewable Offsets vs Total Electric Consumption
kWh from 2020 to 2030

graph of co2 emissions

Carbon Neutrality in Facilities, Fleet, and Land Operations

Dane County operations is also working to become carbon neutral by 2030. Being carbon neutral means that, each year, the total emissions from Dane County's buildings and vehicles will be equal to (or less than) the amount of natural carbon sequestration Dane County achieves through the county's land operations (restoring land to prairie, for example).

The graph below illustrates the carbon neutrality goal: as emissions are reduced and the amount of verified natural carbon sequestration increases, these two bars will meet in 2030, achieving carbon neutrality.

Dane County's Progress on Carbon Neutrality in Building, Vehicle and Land Operations
(Metric Tons CO2 equivalent or MTCO2e)

graph of emissions progress

Building and Vehicle Emissions

Dane County's emissions from buildings and vehicles include all of the following:

Grid electricity used in county facilities (through 2024)
Natural gas and propane use, mostly to heat our buildings
Steam use via the state-owned Capitol Heat & Power Plant
Gasoline, diesel and compressed natural gas fuel in fleets

Dane County also has greenhouse gas emissions associated with operating the Dane County landfill and with fugitive emissions. Those emissions are not included in the 2030 goal.

Dane County Building & Vehicle Emissions (MTCO2e)

building and vehicle emissions

To achieve our 2030 goal Dane County will further reduce remaining emissions so that the emissions are equal to or less than the total annual emissions sequestered via the County’s land operations. The graph below shows remaining emissions by source.

Estimated 2025 Dane County Building & Vehicle Emissions by Source (MTCO2e)

building and vehicle emissions by source

Carbon Sequestration

Research has shown that the restoration or conversion of land to permanent perennial vegetation can increase the amount of carbon stored within soils and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soils. This can have a positive effect on battling climate change. Dane County Land & Water Resources are currently researching the total tons of carbon sequestered through land operations on an annual basis for Dane County.