Cumberland County and the Greater Portland Council of Governments have completed the county’s first-ever Climate and Energy Plan.

Participants said the plan is the result of almost two years of work by hundreds of citizens, energy experts and other stakeholders.

The plan covers county government, all 26 county communities and the private sector. Cumberland County commissioners formally accepted the plan Dec. 10.

The first step in developing the plan was developing an energy-use and emissions inventory, commissioners said.

The inventory shows Cumberland County spent $1.36 billion on energy in 2007, with the transportation sector responsible for half these costs, $631 million; and 45 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

The residential sector ranked the next highest for energy costs, consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Heating fuel consumption alone cost Cumberland County residents $161 million in 2007, the report said.

“Energy dollars leave our local economy,” County Commission Chairwoman Susan Witonis said. “The region imports nearly 90 percent of all energy sources. Due to this reliance on external energy sources, our region is particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in the global energy markets.”

“This data really gets at the heart of our energy problems in Cumberland County,” said Jennifer Puser, a transit and energy planner who contributed to the project. “Transportation and home heating. It’s a huge economic drain.”

Highlights of recommended actions in the plan include:

— reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicle trips;

— increasing the number of students walking and biking safely to school;

— establishing a Transportation Management Association;

— implementing trip reduction programs;

— promoting pedestrianand transit-oriented, infill and mixed-use development

— facilitating availability and use of alternative fuels and alternative-fuel vehicles;

— adopting alternatives to fossil fuels for home heating;

— improving policies that increase energy efficiency;

— exploring the desirability of expanding the use of natural gas;

— increasing countywide recycling rates in all sectors

— increasing home composting of food scraps and yard waste;

— increasing diversion of reusable resources from landfills and waste-to-energy incineration;

— supporting local, community owned renewable energy generation; and

— promoting development of local renewable energy.

The project was funded with an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant through the U.S. Department of Energy.

For more information, call 774-9891 or Elizabeth Trice, Cumberland County, at 871- 8380.