It's been a tough summer for those of us who want our nation to finally address climate change and energy policy. BP's oil spill showed the consequences of our extreme reliance on fossil fuels. Did this make our leaders understand the need for a national energy and climate change policy? No. Last month the Kerry Lieberman American Power Act was withdrawn and the Senate did not even vote on energy/climate change legislation.
It's fortunate we have forward-looking local governments. The city of Reno was recently designated a "2010 Smarter City" by the Natural Resources Defense Council for its investment in green power, energy efficiency measures and conservation. I talked to Jason Geddes, Reno's environmental services administrator, to find out how Reno earned this distinction.
Reno set itself a challenge in 2006, when Mayor Cashell signed the U.S. Conference of Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from city operations to 1990 levels by 2012. In 2007 all Reno residents were invited to a green summit that resulted in an action plan for the city.
Since then, Reno has been busy implementing the action plan, from installing software that automatically turns off all city computers at 5 p.m. to using a 20 percent biodeisel fuel mix in city vehicles. So far the city has carried out $19 million of energy retrofits.
Deploying sun and wind power is a principal part of the city's strategy. Reno has installed 260 kilowatts of solar power so far, and this week the City Council is set to approve an RFP for 1,295 more kilowatts of solar power. The new solar panels will generate 15 percent of the energy used by the three fire stations and wastewater treatment plant where they'll be installed.
Between 2007 and 2010, the city cut its electricity use by almost 3.3 million kilowatt hours, resulting in a savings to taxpayers of $415,323. With the new solar generating capacity, the city expects savings of
$6.5 million over 20 years.
Waste reduction is another of the city's goals. UNR just completed a study for the city of the feasibility of single-stream recycling - that's when all recyclables go into one container for curbside pickup, no sorting. The city did a pilot project that showed that single-stream recycling doubled the number of people taking part in curbside recycling, and tripled the material recovery rate. The city is seeking proposals to develop a waste energy plant at the current transfer station, and has just rezoned the area surrounding the waste transfer station as an eco-industrial park.
Saving energy, saving taxpayer dollars, increasing recycling rates, developing new enterprises - there's something to like for those on all sides of the political spectrum. Maybe our national leaders can get past the energy impasse and learn from the locals.
• Anne Macquarie, a private sector urban planner, is a long time resident of Carson City.