Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Gary Machamer of the Virginia Tech Air Force ROTC carries bags of recyclable plastic and glass while working post-game clean-up of Lane Stadium after Thursday night's game.

Fast facts

• 88.3 percent of the electricity used in Blacksburg is produced by coal-burning power plants
• Electricity represents two-thirds of the town's overall carbon dioxide emissions
• Virginia Tech emitted 280,849 tons of carbon dioxide in 2006
• Streetlights account for about 1,300 tons of Blacksburg's annual carbon emissions

"Blacksburg: A Greenhouse Gas Inventory" (see it in PDF)

Get involved

• Calculate your household's greenhouse gas emissions at epa.gov/climatechange

Today's Sustainability Week events

• 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Pumpkin festival, Blacksburg Farmer’s Market, Roanoke Street and Draper Road
• 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Sustainable Home and Transportation Fair, Kent Square, Municipal Building and old Doc Roberts Building, South Main Street
• 3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m., organic farm tour, Greenstar Farm, 1025 Jennelle Road
• More info

Turns out Dad is being proved right. Leaving "every light in the house on" is not only expensive, it can be a major contributor to global warming, according to a Blacksburg report released this week.

On Monday, Virginia Tech urban planning professor John Randolph announced the preliminary results of "Blacksburg: A Greenhouse Gas Inventory," which shows that the coal-fired electricity used by homes, businesses and government buildings accounts for two-thirds of the town's total carbon dioxide emissions.

The release of the report was part of Sustainability Week, Blacksburg's second annual environmental awareness campaign. It's also tied to a new national initiative that Blacksburg and other localities have joined to try to ensure reduction of greenhouse gases.

After the report is submitted to a special task force next month, the town council -- which pledged by resolution last November to reduce its emissions in the next five years -- will have choices to make to meet goals.

Town council members have said they want to lead the way in making those changes, but it's unclear how much could be wrung out of the town's already-strained budget to fund those efforts.

Mayor Ron Rordam said it was too early to speculate on costs to taxpayers. But, he added, while there will be up-front costs to making buildings more efficient and buying more efficient vehicles, those costs will have to be weighed against long-term economic and ecological savings.

Pollution from electricity generation dwarfs the rest of the town's emissions, accounting for more than natural gas, gasoline and diesel fuel uses combined, Randolph said. Coal-burning plants, like those run by Western Virginia's dominant electricity provider, American Electric Power, can be very inefficient and can produce substantial pollution.

Based on energy use data from 2000 to 2006 gathered from local utilities, state agencies, Virginia Tech and the town government, total town emissions add up to 780 kilotons of greenhouse gases each year. AEP-generated electricity accounts for more than 500 kilotons of those emissions, the report states.

One kiloton equals 2 million pounds.

The report, which is scheduled to be finalized Nov. 30, was requested by the Blacksburg Mayor's Task Force for Climate Protection and Sustainability and is part of the town's effort to join the Sierra Club's Cool Cities Across America program.

To join, localities must pledge to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to pre-1990 levels by 2012 and sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which calls on state and national and other local governments to reduce pollution.

The Blacksburg council voted last November to sign the agreement. Soon after, Rordam assembled the task force, which is made up of residents and university, town and industry officials. Its job is to analyze the inventory report, establish reduction goals and outline recommendations for how to meet them.

The inventory report was done with the help of several students in Randolph's urban planning classes. "I'm proud of the work and dedication they've put into this project," Randolph said. It was "more than just a school project to them."

Rordam, who over the past year has made environmental initiatives a priority, thanked the students and Randolph, saying their work is one more example "of the ways Tech and the town help each other."

Rordam, who has said he has changed the incandescent light bulbs in his home to compact fluorescent ones, also said he was struck by the town government's small share of emissions. Of the total, the town municipal functions accounted for 36 kilotons of emissions, compared with Tech's 280 kilotons, and 177 kilotons for residential use.

Now that the report is in, getting the community involved "is key to having an impact," Rordam said.

The vast majority of scientists around the world agree that a buildup of so-called greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- in the atmosphere traps the sun's heat close to the Earth. This warming can change weather patterns and cause natural disasters, crop failures and extinction of species, those scientists believe.

A group of scientists has recently announced that the warming effects are accelerating more quickly than anticipated and warn that catastrophic changes may come soon.

The Cool Cities program was established to encourage localities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now in hopes of heading off some effects of global warming. More than 300 cities and towns have signed on, 14 of those in Virginia. According to the Cool Cities Web site, Blacksburg is far ahead of its Virginia peers in the program, having so far achieved four out the program's five goals.

But the most difficult part remains: finding ways to actually reduce emissions.

On the Web: coolcities.us sustainableblacksburg.org