April 15, 2010MEMO TO:
J. Russell Allen, City Manager
FROM:
Paula Thomas, Sustainability Manager
THRU:
Julian Prosser, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT:
Council
Environmental Goals and Policies Status Report
BACKGROUND:
In 2007-2008, City Council took action to adopt three (3) recommendations submitted to them bythe Environmental Advisory Board
.
Included in the EAB recommendations was the language“
Make reduction in fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions, together with energyconservation, priorities of City government on par with stewardship of fiscal resources anddelivery of government services”.
The three specific actions taken were:
Established a goal of 20 % reduction in fossil fuel consumption by the city fleet from2006 levels within 5 years. (Council Action date – April 17, 2007).
Established Energy Efficient Buildings Standards – LEED Silver Certification for all newCity construction and additions encompassing 10,000 gross square feet or more. (CouncilAction date – May 20, 2008).
Endorsed the U.S Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing to develop aGreenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Strategy for the City. (Council Action date –August 7, 2007).Significant progress has been and continues to be made toward implementation of these goals andpolicies. It is important to recognize that each of these three goals cannot be realized without thecollaboration and commitment of all city departments and employees working together. The Citystaff has achieved an extraordinary level of inter-departmental cooperation and has exhibited strongleadership regarding these challenges, using creativity, expertise and dedicated work.(See
ATTACHMENT A
for specific Council Actions text)
CURRENT EFFORTS:
Although these 3 goals are fundamental to the City advancing its environmental sustainabiltyobjectives, they represent only a beginning foundation for a more fully comprehensive, integratedand detailed Energy/Climate Action Plan. Staff is developing a city-wide strategic energy/climateaction plan and detailed implementation strategy for significantly reducing greenhouse gas andfossil fuel emissions and increasing energy efficiency within the city. This effort focuses oncreating a roadmap for not only implementing discreet projects, but also for developing programs,capacity and capital to institutionalize these values, goals and processes.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of today’s report is to provide Council with status reports on each of the three discreetinitiatives. These 3 efforts will be briefly discussed by lead staff engaged in implementation.
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I. Fossil Fuel Reduction Goal Update – Travis Brown, Vehicle Fleet Services
In early 2007 the City’s Environmental Advisory Board recommended that City Council establish a20% fossil fuel reduction goal (not considering growth or costs of implementation). The timeframeidentified for accomplishing this was 5 years. The Council approved this recommendation on April17, 2007. Since that time, the Departments have applied several changes to their daily operations inorder to reduce fossil fuel consumption. These include:
educating drivers to improve their driving habits,
consolidating trips to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT),
limiting equipment idling,
enhancing equipment maintenance,
converted to a fuel consumption budgeting process based upon gallons, not cost
continuing to invest in transforming the fleet to be more fuel efficient and environmentallycleaner by replacing larger vehicles with smaller more efficient ones –“right-sizing”,replacing regular fossil fueled vehicles with alternative and flex fuel vehicles (E85,Hybrids) and adding additional alternative fuels at our fueling station,
researching, testing and evaluating several fuel efficiency improvement products in themarketplace to determine if any might improve our equipment efficiency,
maximizing use of bio-diesel and ethanol in existing vehicles and equipment,
leading a national effort – Project Get Ready- a pilot project thru the Rocky MountainInstitute in collaboration with Progress energy and Advanced Energy to prepare forelectrification of transportation.(See
ATTACHMENT B
for a summary of some additional departmental consumptionreduction efforts)Though we have made many changes since FY2007 (baseline year), the City’s fuel consumptioncontinues to increase. From FY2007 to FY2009, the City’s fuel consumption has increased 15.2 %and miles driven increased 6.5 %. Because of the dramatic growth of the City in the past few years,increased services provided (garbage, streets maintenance, utilities, law enforcement) , andassociated increased service areas, the City has experienced corresponding increases inconsumption.(See
ATTACHMENT C
for summary of details.)However, during this same time period, we did increase our alternative fuel consumption by 65%.The City has plans (unrealized at this time due in large part to the downturn in the economy) tosignificantly add to and enhance the infrastructure necessary to support the on-going fleettransformation to alternative fuel vehicles. Significant among these is the plan to institute RemoteOperations Facilities which have been projected to markedly reduce vehicles miles traveled andfossil fuel consumption by 20%.Staff has been actively pursuing grants to enable the City to move forward with some of its plansfor increasing alternate fueling infrastructure, as well as purchase and/or convert to hybrid vehicles.
II. Energy Efficient Buildings-LEED Update – Billy Jackson,Facilities and Operations
The City of Raleigh LEED implementation team comprised of members from several Departmentsincluding Sustainability, Parks and Recreation, Public Utilities, Planning, Purchasing, PublicWorks, and Personnel began meeting biweekly in the fall of 2008. In the initial stages of
2
development, the LEED implementation team took part in trainings to expand their knowledge of sustainable efforts- particularly LEED certifications. The City became a member of ICLEI – LocalGovernments for Sustainability USA and the USGBC – US Green Builders Council. Three staff onthe team are now LEED AP accredited. At the current time, each team member is researchingsubject matter specific to their area of expertise as it relates to LEED, and is presenting it to theteam for preliminary policy development. The goal of this effort is to compile all documents anddevelop new policy recommendations necessary to satisfy all aspects of a certified LEED buildingfor existing and new construction, and creating a sustainable future for the City of Raleigh. Somerecent city LEED certified new construction include the Raleigh Convention Center, the NeuseRiver WWTP Training Facility and the Dempsey Benton Water Treatment Plant. One facilitycurrently being built to LEED standards is the Wilders Grove Solid Waste Services Facility.The City of Raleigh continues to implement initiatives that reduce environmental impact andenergy use while saving money and avoiding costs. Examples of these efforts include theimplementation of energy efficient LED, and solar LED lighting as well as innovative, and moretraditional renewable energy projects. These include solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, andgeothermal. Methane collection and reuse has been an on-going city effort. There are discussionsunderway to install wind turbines, where appropriate, and the potential development of an “energyfarm” that will demonstrate several of these renewable technologies at one common site.Additionally, we are the first municipality in the country to use Periscope software to track andmanage our energy use in facilities, using real-time data and historical trends to operate multiple-facility operations. Many of these projects are part of the city’s life cycle equipment replacementprogram and leverage grant opportunities and incentive rebate programs through local utilitieswhenever possible. Continual utility billing and rate analysis serve as a benchmark tool to reportenergy consumption and cost.(See
ATTACHMENT D
for some selected recent data analysis)
III. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Strategy – Cindy Holmes, Sustainability Office
The City of Raleigh initiated the first step in developing a comprehensive climate protectionstrategy in the fall of 2009 by contracting with ICF International to assist in conducting aGreenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Government Operations. This effort has been supportedby a multi-departmental staff leadership team including Administrative Services, Public Utilities,Public Works, Solid Waste Services, Information Technology, and Parks and Recreation. Thefunctional work areas in these departments that have been included in the team include budget, fleetservices, transportation, solid waste, water, wastewater, facilities and operations, and sustainability.The City joined US Climate Communities as well as used the support of ICLEI.The staff leadership team has been responsible for the selection of the consultant, evaluating andselecting the protocol and establishing the base year for the greenhouse gas study. They havecontinued to provide information and guidance to the consultant throughout the process. Theextensive data collection required for the study has now been completed. A Draft Inventory reportwas received by the City last week and is now being reviewed by the team. A presentation to theCity Council will be made once the report is final in May or early June.
(See
Attachment E
for preliminary findings)3
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