Saskatoon has some work to do to lower its greenhouse gas emissions from buildings if you look at the numbers from a new Google platform. Environmental Insights Explorer combines global mapping data with standard greenhouse gas emission factors. Jeanna South, Saskatoon’s Director of Sustainability, explains that Saskatoon is a very high per capita emitter, compared to other Canadian cities and around the world because of our energy source.

Needing heat in the winter is a factor, but when you consider other colder cities like Winnipeg, it’s energy source is renewable because the Manitoba power grid is mostly hydro, where Saskatchewan’s is gas and coal. Saskatoon’s transportation emissions are about average compared to other cities and about 77 per cent of our rooftops have the potential for solar power.

South says the City has its own lower emissions community plan, and it will remain the baseline, but having this tool means being able to compare to other communities. She emphasizes that there was no privacy incursion. It all comes from anonymous data. The City has provided no corporate or private information to Google. Click here to link to the EIE site.