By executive order, the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has mandated that city departments reduce energy usage by 25 percent by 2020. Inside are details, targets, comps, and next sWhat Happened?
By executive order, the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is mandating that his city’s departments reduce energy usage by 25 percent by 2020, which will save taxpayers nearly $3 million per year.
So What?
The order expands upon the mayor’s commitment to energy efficiency, demonstrated after he signed the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. The move provides an opportunity to remind Gov1 readers about the Agreement, and how they can get involved (if they’re not already).
What’s the Agreement?
The U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement advances the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, which was a 2005 international pact to address climate change. The actual one-page agreement, which has been signed by more than 1,000 U.S. mayors, notes that signatories will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto, taking actions such as making energy efficiency a priority, setting energy-use reduction targets, promoting transportation options that don’t use fossil fuels, and more.
Chattanooga’s Goals
Though the Agreement doesn’t specify exactly how each city should achieve its objectives, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield set very specific goals in four major categories for his city:
- Energy: All city departments need to reduce energy consumption by 35 percent by 2020. That includes buildings that the city owns, leases and operates.
- Green House Gas: All city departments need to reduce “GHG” or greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
- Water: All city departments need to reduce water use by 20 percent by 2020; again, that applies to buildings that the city owns, leases and operates.
- Waste: All city departments need to divert 25 percent of solid waste from the city’s landfill by 2020.
Immediate Practices
In addition, the mayor mandated specific practices “effective immediately” that other towns my find interesting. Specifically, in existing buildings need to implement the following energy efficiency practices:
- Equipment: Office equipment must be turned off when not in use;
- Thermostats: Must be operated within specific ranges;
- Lighting: Must be turned off in unoccupied areas;
- Bye Bye Heaters: Individual heaters must be eliminated;
- Sensors: Occupancy sensors and/or monitors need to be “incorporated”;
- Automation: Building automation or energy-management needs to be incorporated;
- Inspections: Tuning of heating, air conditioning, and ventilations equipment must occur;
- Cycling: Equipment needs to be restarted on a staggered basis to “shed electricity loads” and minimize peak demand.
And that’s only for existing buildings; new buildings must meet LEED Green Building ratings, and all departments engaged in construction need to figure out how to get a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency immediately. The mayor goes so far as to recommend some potential strategies, from installing more energy-efficient systems, to incorporating green roofs or automation systems.
The executive order also addresses monitoring of goals, the procurement of energy-efficient products, the purchase of renewable energy, the procurement of clean-fuel vehicles, and more. A complete copy of the executive order was published by a local newspaper.
Comparables
Of course, Chattanooga was not the first city in the nation to unveil such an executive order related to energy efficiency. There have been literally hundreds, including Boston, Denver, Nashville, St. Petersburg, New York City, and even smaller municipalities like Lansing, MI and Dayton, MN.
It is actually more common for states to have made efficiency-related executive orders. Dozens of states have done so, including Delaware, Washington, Arizona, Wisconsin, New York, and others; interestingly, New Jersey’s executive order created a “Director of Energy Savings” position within the Department of Treasury.
Action Items
If your city’s mayor has not signed the Climate Protection Agreement, consider learning more. First, you can check this map to see who the signatories are, or refer to this list of the 1,054 mayors who have signed. Second, download this participation form, which is a simple one-pager that can be emailed to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Also, you can download the latest best practices document on climate protection, which provides examples from both large and small cities.