10 Green LIGHTS
Leading ideas and resources for local climate, energy, and sustainability action.
Sustainably designed Lurie Garden in Millennium Park, Chicago, IL.
CHICAGO EXPORTS THE GREEN BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Friendly competition can bring out the best among business colleagues and make their jobs—and going green—more fun. That’s the se- cret to success with the Green Business Chal- lenge, an innovative program created by the City of Chicago and ICLEI. The Challenge, launched in Chicago in 2009, engages property manag- ers and office tenants in a competition to save money and reduce energy use in their buildings, as well as reduce waste, save water, and reach other environmental goals. Across 39 downtown buildings, tenants and building managers imple- mented initiatives that will save them a com- bined $5.13 million and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55,000 metric tons. Local governments around the country have
expressed interest in starting their own Green Busi- ness Challenges, and ICLEI is working to package the program setup in a guidebook training series, and more. In 2010, we’re also helping Houston, TX and an additional four pilot communities create their own programs: Arlington County, VA, Charles- ton, SC, Nashville, TN, and San Diego/Port of San Diego, CA. Could it work in your town, too?
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icleiusa.org/greenofficechallenge Local Action Moves the World •
www.icleiusa.org
GAINESVILLE LIGHTS THE WAY
Borrowing a bright idea from Europe, in 2009 the City of Gainesville, FL, was the first U.S. city to establish a solar feed- in tarif f through its municipal utility, Gainesville Regional Utilities. The feed-in tariff incentivizes residents to install solar systems by providing fixed-price pay- ments to owners based on the amount of electricity generated. The program has been received en-
thusiastically by the public and is expected to result in the installation of 32 megawatts of solar generation capacity by 2016, at a cost of only about one dollar per month for an average GRU customer. Over that time, these solar systems will generate 47,168 MWh of clean energy, reducing emissions by 40,093 metric tons of C02
e annually. Want to understand how Gainesville
deployed the program and its challenges and keys to success? Check out ICLEI’s case study. Or read Los Angeles, CA’s 2010 study on how to design an effective feed-in tariff program.
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icleiusa.org/solarfeedintariffs
Homeowners can receive payments for the electricity their solar panels feed into the grid.
PLANET EARTH \\ NEWS
JON KASSEL; FERNANDO TOMÁS
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