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LEARN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8 06hNr‐ mrk&feature=player_embedded What does a green city mean to you? To us, a green city is a city that has the cleanest and most efficient energy, transportation, and building infrastructure possible. A green city derives its energy from renewable sources like solar and wind, and distributes that energy through efficient and reliable microgrids. A green city is made up of buildings that are energy efficient, conserve water, and reduce waste. A green city is connected by clean and accessible public transportation networks and is biking‐ and walking‐friendly. A green city is a healthier, more affordable, and more pleasant place to live. To learn more about the Green Cities campaign, CLICK HERE
The world’s energy infrastructure is ripe for improvement. Most of our electricity is generated in dirty fossil fuel power plants, which pump greenhouse gases into the air and contribute to climate change. The electricity is then distributed through thousands of miles of inefficient and unreliable power lines. Transforming our outdated electricity grid into a cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable energy system is a critical step towards securing a sustainable future. What does this energy future look like? Small‐scale renewable energy sources will replace centralized, fossil fuel‐burning power plants. Smart grids will regulate energy flow, ensure energy efficiency, and immediately diagnose problems. With education and political will, we can make this energy future a reality, but we must start now. A cheaper and more sustainable future awaits.
Tell Your Government to Act In 2012, fossil fuels were responsible for nearly 13 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The biggest contributor was coal‐fired power plants. Thousands of power plants currently exist around the world and each, on average, emits approximately 3.5 million tons of greenhouse gases every year!
Tell Your Government to Act Promote Energy Efficiency It’s time the world reforms our ineffecint energy systems that inhibit energy efficiency. Tell your Mayor to start a dialogue on how energy utilities can decouple profits and promote effecincy.
Tell Your Government to Act Demand Renewable Energy Targets In order to keep global temperatures from increasing more than 2 degree Celsius, the world needs to transition to renewable energy immediately. Tell your government to set ambitious renewable energy portfolio standards
Success Stories World’s Largest Solar Thermal Plant Posted Under: Energy California will soon be home to the world’s largest solar thermal power plant. Located in the Mojave Desert, just a few miles from the California‐Nevada border, the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility will occupy 3,500 acres of federal land and will contain 300,000 software‐ controlled mirrors. These mirrors will reflect sunlight onto boilers that sit on three 459‐foot tall towers. The sunlight will heat the boilers, creating steam to spin turbines and generate electricity. The project has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts, allowing it to provide reliable solar electricity to more than 140,000 homes. The facility is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons per year. The project has been under construction since 2010. It’s expected to go live sometime before year’s end.
Success stories Africa’s Largest Wind Farm Posted Under: Energy Investment in Africa’s renewable energy potential is starting to pick up. The Ashegoda wind farm in Ethiopia—the continent’s largest wind farm—is officially open for business. The 120‐megawatt wind farm has already transferred about 90 million kilowatt hours of electricity to the grid. Now that it’s at full capacity, it’s expected to contribute 400 million kilowatt hours per year. The 84‐turbine farm is located 18 kilometers outside the city of Mekelle—780 kilometers north of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Two other wind farms in Ethiopia—Adama I and Adama II—were also recently completed. Each has 51 megawatts of capacity. “Various studies have proved that there is potential to harness abundant wind energy resources in every region of Ethiopia,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. “We cannot maintain growth without utilizing the energy sector.” The Ashegoda wind farm is a big step forward for Ethiopia, a country considered to be ripe for renewable energy investment. With this in mind, the country has instituted a development plan to boost its generating capacity from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW over the next 5 years.
Success Stories Energy Grid of the Future Posted Under: Energy The city of Fort Collins, Colorado is designing the energy grid of the future. Back in 2007, a community‐driven alliance between local government, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector launched FortZED (Zero Energy District). The project intends to make downtown Fort Collins one of the world’s largest net‐zero energy districts of its kind. How do they plan to achieve their goal of net‐zero energy use? There are four basic strategies: 1.) Reduce energy use in buildings 2.) Develop local renewable energy generation 3.) Optimize current energy sources 4.) Implement smart grid technology. To help develop local renewable energy generation, FortZED created the Jump Start Project, a Renewable and Distributed Systems Integration Cooperative Study. The project is tasked with researching ways to integrate renewable energy and distributed generation into the district’s electrical grid. Specifically, Fort Collins hopes to use renewable energy resources on two utility feeders in the FortZED district to achieve peak reduction of 20‐30%. FortZED’s Smart Grid Investment Grant project is equally innovative. The project has already started installing smart metering on all homes and businesses in the region. The meters have produced valuable data about inefficiencies and areas for improvement in the current system. Fort Collins hopes to be a model for other communities.
GREEN BUILDINGS
Globally, buildings are responsible for one‐third of greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., the impact is even greater, with nearly 40% of all carbon dioxide emissions coming from commercial and residential buildings. Why are buildings such large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions? One, buildings typically rely on dirty energy sources for their power. And two, most buildings don’t use energy efficiently. Because buildings are such a big part of the problem, they’re an equally big part of the solution. To create greener buildings, we need to improve energy and water efficiency, reduce waste and pollution, transition to renewable energy sources, and use sustainable buildings materials. These strategies can reduce energy consumption in buildings by 30‐80 percent
GREEN BUILDINGS ACTION
TAKE ACTION Demand Efficient Building Codes It’s clear that we must make our buildings more energy efficient to limit their negative impact on the environment. Send a letter to your Mayor or Local Leader asking them to adopt the most effective building energy codes available
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GREEN BUILDINGS ACTION
Help Support Solar Over 1/3 of solar installers say that the complicated permitting process is limiting the growth of the solar industry. Tell your local government to improve your solar permitting process to support clean energy.
GREEN BUILDINGS ACTION
Support PACE Financing PACE Financing is an innovative way to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Tell the Federal Housing Finance Agency (the main regulating agency behind PACE) that you support these finance plans.
GREEN BUILDINGS SUCCESS
Success stories Vancouver Convention Center Posted Under: Green Buildings The Vancouver Convention Center might just be the greenest convention center in the world. Opened in April of 2009, the facility achieved LEED Canada Platinum Certification—the first time a convention center has done so—and received a COTE 2011 Top Ten Green Project Award.
“It is an honor to be recognized at the national level by what many consider to be the top award program for sustainable design excellence,” said one of the building’s designers. The building weaves together the sustainable building, natural ecology, local culture and urban context. What makes the building so green? For one, it’s home to a six‐acre living roof—the largest of its kind in Canada. The roof houses 400,000 native plants grasses and 240,000 bees. It serves many functions, including acting as an insulator to maintain indoor temperatures, and helping to effectively utilize stormwater. The building also makes use of low‐volume flush and flow fixtures to reduce potable water consumption by 73%. 100% of the building’s greywater and blackwater is treated As for heating and cooling, the building uses a sea water pump to cool the building during the summer and heat the building during the winter. The building is almost entirely covered in glass, minimizing the need for artificial lighting. Radiant flooring is used wherever possible, allowing for superior air circulation
GREEN BUILDINGS SUCCESS
World’s Greenest Building Posted Under: Green Buildings The world’s greenest commercial building stands in Seattle, WA. It’s the brainchild of Denis Hayes, co‐founder of Earth Day and president of the Bullitt Foundation. The building is seeking to meet the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most rigorous rating system for sustainability. The building’s roof is adorned with solar panels, providing enough energy to power the entire building. The Bullitt Center collects water for its use in a large cistern, and all wastewater is treated onsite. In fact, the building operates independently from municipal water and waste systems. The building is able to effectively gauge exterior conditions–including temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and wind–and adjust accordingly, opening and closing windows, turning the heat up or down, etc. Don’t plan to park there – it’s close to public transportation and has bike racks, but no parking spaces. Heating is accomplished with geothermal power, and all of the building’s wood is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The Bullitt Center stands as the highest monument to green building, and will continue to prove its worth into the future in terms of energy and cost savings.
GREEN BUILDINGS SUCCESS
Affordable Solar in San Francisco Posted Under: EnergyGreen Buildings Most people think that solar panels are reserved for the wealthy. The city of San Francisco is doing all it can to dispel that myth. The city has developed a comprehensive, city‐wide strategy to expand access to renewable energy, particularly among the city’s low‐income residents. San Francisco’s Department of the Environment started out by awarding environmental justice (EJ) grants to local non‐profits devoted to installing solar panels on homes and community buildings and creating jobs for local residents. So far, the city has awarded more than $2 million in EJ grants for solar training and installation. Aside from the EJ grant program, San Francisco is adopting other strategies to simplify the permitting process, ensure continued access for low‐income communities, and increase solar job opportunities for local residents. In 2008, the city launched GoSolarSF, a solar incentive program. The program has helped implement “over the counter” solar permitting and reduced residential installation costs from $1400 down to $100. Low‐income families and neighborhoods that have historically faced environmental injustice can receive especially generous rebates. GoSolarSF also mandates that participating installers employ graduates of local workforce development programs and incorporate job training opportunities into their projects. San Francisco is proving that access to solar can become more affordable, more efficient, and more equitable.
The future of transportation hangs in the balance. In 2006, the world’s urban population surpassed its rural population for the first time in history. This rapid urban population growth has strained existing transportation infrastructure and made walking and cycling increasingly difficult, prompting more and more people to rely on cars for transportation. The result? Transportation is now the fastest‐growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 24 percent of global emissions. Fortunately, with the right investments, we can reverse this trend. The first step is to strengthen and expand existing public transportation networks so that they are more convenient and more accessible. Second, we need to invest in sustainable transportation technology to create fuel efficient and low‐emissions vehicles. Finally, we need to design biking‐ and walking‐friendly cities. With these investments, we can transition to a cleaner, safer, and more affordable transportation infrastructure.
Bring Bike Shares to Your Community Bike Share systems are a smart, cost effective, and environmentall sound way to encourage more clean travel in a city or community. Tell your local government that you want a bike share system in your community.
Improve Emission Standards Improving the sustainability of our new vehicles is one way to help limit the gorwing impacts of the trasnportation sector. Tell your Head of State to set ambitious vehicle emissions standards on new automobiles.
Demand More Fuel Efficiency Higher vehicle efficiency standards are possible, but we need public support to encourage governments to implement the requirements. Tell your Head of State to require higher vehicle effecicny standards today!.
Emissions‐Free Transportation in Masdar City Posted Under: Transportation Abu Dhabi has set out to create the world’s most sustainable and eco‐friendly development project. It’s called Masdar City. The two‐square‐mile project aims to be almost entirely carbon‐neutral, zero waste to landfill, and car‐free. Masdar City will eventually be home to 1,500 businesses, 40,000 residents and 50,000 commuters. According to Masdar City’s website, “It is a community where cutting‐edge cleantech research and development, pilot projects, technology testing, and construction on some of the world’s most sustainable buildings are all ongoing.” There will be no fossil fuel‐burning cars in Masdar City. Instead, the city is designed to encourage walking whenever possible. It’s also equipped with a Personal Rapid Transit system (PRT) and a Freight Rapid Transit System (FRT). Both systems consist of “electric‐powered, automated, single‐cabin vehicles” that are powered entirely by renewable energy. The vehicles use Lithium‐Phosphate batteries and are capable of traveling about 60 kilometers on a 1.5‐hour charge.
Success Storıes Biogas‐Powered Buses in Johannesburg The city of Johannesburg, South Africa is making some big changes to encourage public transportation, biking and walking. Just last month, the city launched the second route of its Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit System, which transforms the busy Route 1B corridor into a clean transportation zone. A fleet of 134 city buses—which run on biogas and low‐sulphur diesel—will transport residents along the corridor. The use of biogas to power city buses represents a growing trend in public transportation. Biogas are produced through the breakdown of city waste, sewer plants, and other organic matter. Johannesburg’s Metrobus has also adopted the technology. In addition to cleaner buses, the Rea Vaya route also has 13 new bus stations with bike racks, improved trash receptacles, and landscaping that features indigenous trees. The city has also started working on walking and biking pathways along the Route 1B corridor. These improvements will change traffic patterns, reduce travel times, reduce noxious carbon emissions and exhaust fumes, bringing a cleaner and healthier environment.
Beijing’s Clean Car Mandate Posted Under: Transportation Faced with unbearable levels of air pollution, China is targeting the transportation sector as a potential solution. The city of Beijing is taking the lead with a series of new restrictions on vehicles. The city will start by limiting the number of new license plates issued each year. Over the next four years, Beijing will only register 150,000 new vehicles each year, down from about 240,000 per year currently. In 2014, 20,000 of these registrations will be reserved for electric/hybrid vehicles. By 2017, 60,000—or 40%–of newly registered vehicles will be electric/hybrid. Beijing is one of four Chinese cities to have restrictions on new car sales, joining Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Guiyang. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced in July that the country will soon restrict vehicle sales in eight more cities. Of course, with restrictions on vehicle sales comes the obligation to provide biking‐ and walking‐friendly infrastructure, as well as efficient and convenient public transportation options. Still, it seems that China is on the right track.
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