The 2024 Annual Report for the Ithaca 2030 District is out, and we’re excited to share the news that the District realized overall energy savings of 36% from the baseline last year and used 55% less water compared to the baseline. That’s about equal to last year’s energy reduction of 37% in energy savings, and a significant improvement over the gallons avoided in 2023 (46%). The best news, however, is that 2024 marked the second year in a row that the District exceeded the 2025 targets for both energy and water.
The other good news is that the District continues to grow rapidly. At the end of last year, there were 55 member buildings and 922,298 square feet of committed space, compared to 33 buildings and 417,089 square feet in 2021.
That’s a 66% increase in the number of buildings and 121% growth in committed square footage in three years. In 2023, 43 buildings, and 583,269 square feet belonged to the District, amounting in 2024 to a 28% rise in buildings and a 58% jump in square footage.
Commuter emissions still pose a significant challenge. Although they dropped from 1706 kg CO2e/commuter/year in 2021 to 1403 in 2023, they increased in 2024 to 1480. County and City data revealed even worse results, with the former hitting 1890 kg of C02e emissions per commuter and the latter coming in at 1750. Given the accelerating pace of global warming, these data are clearly unsettling.
The Ithaca 2030 District—the flagship program of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)—is a voluntary effort by property owners and tenants to improve the energy and water performance of their buildings as well as to bring about cuts in commuter transportation emissions.
Besides the annual district-level report, each of the property members is provided access to a confidential interactive, dynamic dashboard that measures the energy and water performance of their individual buildings. These dashboards are regularly updated so that building owners and tenants can monitor their progress towards the individual 2030 energy and water targets.
Check out the full 2024 report for details about the progress and growth of the Ithaca 2030 District.