Most of us like to get a good report card. Many of us have a competitive streak. And lots of us are looking for ways to be more energy efficient in an effort to live our most sustainable (best) life. So how to combine all these things? The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) have scratched this itch. Every 2 years they complete a Clean Energy Scorecard, which measures “the progress of city policies and programs that save energy, promote renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also focuses on efforts to embed equity in policymaking.” And this year they’ve ranked 75 large US cities across 5 policy areas: local government operations; community-wide initiatives; buildings; energy and water utilities; and transportation. In addition to the 75 cities who received an official ranking, the ACEEE highlighted three ‘to watch’ (Cincinnati, Hartford and Providence) based on their new major clean energy policies.
Let’s have a look at some of the innovative and ambitious ways that cities have scored well, by demonstrating their commitment to clean, renewable energies, and to operate more efficiently. Can you pick which of the cities ranked in the top 5 match to the initiatives?
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And here are the rankings of those cities…
5. Washington D.C
4. Minneapolis
3. Seattle
2. San Francisco
1. Boston (they haven’t been nudged from this spot since reporting began!)
And because we’re a little biased, and loyal New Yorkers, we’ll mention that the Big Apple just missed out on a top 5 place, coming in at number 6.
So the point of this is to give you some ideas which you can take to your local municipality. You can rest assured that these goals are all clearly laid out and assessed as being achievable by the ACEEE (I’ve not included goals which the ACEEE thought sounded too lofty to be realistic). So they are perfect examples to take forth in writing, maybe even with a signed petition, to your next local town meeting. And for even more inspiration and information on the 75 cities, you can download the full report.
We at swrm are interested in helping you personally achieve a higher level of sustainable living, but of course we recognize that you can’t do it all alone, without infrastructure and governmental support. So we want to provide motivation and advice for individual action which results in wider community action. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘Think globally, act locally”. But one of our heroes, Dr Jane Goodall has recently said we’re probably best not to think globally, because chances are we’ll get depressed by the way we’re ruining the Earth. So let’s focus our energies on achievable local outcomes…and if we all do that, the result is clearly global!
