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GREENHOUSE GAS TECHNICAL REPORT <br />Introduction <br />This technical report examines the direct and indirect impacts of the proposed Cabrillo Town Center <br />Project related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global climate change by disclosing GHG <br />emissions generation and by addressing the Project's consistency with applicable GHG emission <br />reduction plans, policies, and regulations. Calculation worksheets and documentation are included in <br />the Technical Appendix to this analysis. <br />Environmental Setting <br />Global climate change refers to changes in average climatic conditions on Earth as a whole, including <br />changes in temperature, wind patterns, precipitation, and storms. Global warming, a related concept, is <br />the observed increase in average temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere. One identified cause <br />of global warming is an increase of GHG emissions in the atmosphere. GHG emissions are those <br />compounds in Earth's atmosphere that play a critical role in determining Earth's surface temperature. <br />Earth's natural warming process is known as the "greenhouse effect." It is called the greenhouse effect <br />because Earth and the atmosphere surrounding it are like a greenhouse with glass panes in that the <br />glass allows solar radiation (sunlight) into Earth's atmosphere but prevents radiative heat from escaping, <br />thus warming Earth's atmosphere. Some levels of GHG emissions keep the average surface <br />temperature of Earth close to a hospitable 60 degrees Fahrenheit. However, it is believed that excessive <br />concentrations of anthropogenic GHG emissions in the atmosphere can result in increased global mean <br />temperatures, with associated adverse climatic and ecological consequences.' <br />Scientists studying the particularly rapid rise in global temperatures have determined that human activity <br />has resulted in increased emissions of GHG emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels (from <br />motor vehicle travel, electricity generation, consumption of natural gas, industrial activity, <br />manufacturing), deforestation, agricultural activity, and the decomposition of solid waste. Scientists refer <br />to the global warming context of the past century as the "enhanced greenhouse effect" to distinguish it <br />from the natural greenhouse effect.2 <br />Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre -industrial times. As reported by <br />the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), global carbon emissions from fossil fuels <br />increased by over 16 times between 1900 and 2008 and by about 1.5 times between 1990 and 2008. In <br />addition, in the Global Carbon Budget 2014 report, published in September 2014, atmospheric carbon <br />dioxide (CO2) concentrations in 2013 were found to be 43 percent above the concentration at the start <br />of the Industrial Revolution, and the present concentration is the highest during at least the last 800,000 <br />Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of <br />Working Groups I, 11 and I II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change <br />[Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. <br />2 Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global <br />Climate Change. <br />Cabrillo Town Center <br />Greenhouse. as ec <br />PAGE <br />City of Santa Ana <br />10/3/2023 July 2023 <br />