Developing a Greenhouse Gas GHG Calculator and Benchmarking Tool to Assess Clean Energy Program Impact

This project, completed by the SIPA Capstone team for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), examined how the agency can strengthen greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and program evaluation for clean energy transportation and infrastructure initiatives, with a focus on the NJ ZIP and NJ COOL programs. As New Jersey advances its clean energy and electrification goals, NJEDA faces increasing demand for transparent, consistent, and operationally feasible methods to estimate emissions reductions across diverse projects.

The Capstone team focused on developing practical frameworks that balance methodological rigor with usability for internal program administration. For NJ COOL, the team developed a broader evaluation framework intended to support project assessment, scenario analysis, and investment prioritization for clean energy infrastructure initiatives. The recommendations emphasized transparency, standardized data collection, flexible assumptions management, and scalable internal decision-support tools.

For NJ ZIP, the team designed a simplified avoided-emissions calculator for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle electrification projects, drawing on established methodologies, such as EPA AFLEET, while adapting them to NJEDA’s operational needs. The framework incorporated standardized assumptions for vehicle classes, annual mileage, fuel economy, electricity consumption, and grid emissions factors to support consistent reporting and portfolio-level aggregation.

Overall, the project provided NJEDA with actionable strategies to improve emissions estimation, strengthen program evaluation capacity, and support long-term clean energy planning across New Jersey.