All local jurisdictions face the necessity this decade of reducing emissions of climate damaging pollutants and maximizing removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide. And many jurisdictions have undertaken a variety of activities, from banning natural gas in new construction to increasing the number of charging stations for electric vehicles. For example:
Buffalo, NY – No longer requires a minimum number of parking spaces for each new residential or commercial development, reducing construction costs and encouraging alternate modes of transportation.
Portland, OR – Established the Clean Energy Fund, which enables the retrofitting of homes and apartments in disadvantaged communities to make them more energy efficient.
Seattle, WA – Requires building owners to publicly disclose the annual energy used in their buildings.
But here’s the challenge:
How do elected officials and staff become aware of the myriad activities going on across the country? And, when they discover an initiative which could be relevant to their community’s mitigation efforts, who can they get in touch with to learn more?
This Toolbox is designed to address this challenge. It is comprised of actions gleaned from multiple sources, organized and updated in one freely accessible location.
A search for actions can be defined by region (e.g., rural or urban), state, or sector (e.g., Buildings or Natural and Working Lands). A word search function also allows searching by words of interest.
One or more actions may be found in each search result. Each action displays this information:
Goal: The objective of the action, for example, to increase energy efficiency of new residential buildings, increase local renewable energy production, sequester carbon in natural lands, etc.
Date: Most recent update of the action.
Description: The experience of one or more entities in implementing the action OR a summary of the proposed action.
State(s): Where local action has been proposed, adopted, is in process, or implemented.
Measurement: The means by which progress towards reaching the goal is assessed, for example, net reduction of CO2 emissions, percentage decrease in energy consumed, number of retrofitted buildings.
Region: The type of region for which this action is most suitable: Urban (< 50,000 population), Urban (> 50,000 population), Urban (all), Rural, or All Regions.
Status: The stage of the action. An action can be proposed, adopted, in process, or implemented.
Locations: The cities, counties, or regional governments which provide good examples of the action in practice. Note: these locations are not all-inclusive and we welcome information regarding other locations where similar actions have been taken.
Time to Implement: When available, the time it took for the action to advance from idea to implementation.
Links: The URLs to helpful websites.
Additional Information: Any additional facts or resources which might be helpful.
Contact Info: Contact information for individuals knowledgeable about the action.