This fall, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley unveiled an ambitious plan that identifies the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the city and outlines strategies that can be employed by government, businesses and individuals to slow the effects of climate change by 2020 and beyond.
The Chicago Climate Action Plan, which was authored by a special task force of experts from local universities, environmental groups, utility companies, community organizations and the private sector, calls for voluntary participation to achieve its goals, according to Larry Merritt, a spokesperson for the city's Department of the Environment.
The plan singled out buildings and the energy they release as the biggest culprits of GHG emissions, responsible for 70 percent of the total in the city. The next greatest source was transportation, contributing 21 percent to all GHG emissions.
Not surprisingly, the report focuses many of its recommendations on retrofitting old buildings to make them more energy efficient and building new ones to higher efficiency standards. The plan also calls for specific tactics to get people out of their cars and nudge them toward alternative modes of transportation, including more public transit, biking, walking and car-sharing programs. Two such programs available locally are I-Go Car Sharing and Zip Cars.
The report provides recommendations in three other important areas: finding cleaner and renewable energy sources, reducing waste and industrial pollution, and adapting to climate changes already affecting the way people live and work in Chicago.
To know what safe level of GHG emission targets the city needs to hit, the task force conducted rigorous scientific studies to determine baseline data of GHG emissions from 1990, says Anne Evens, director of CNT Energy, a division of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a non-profit environmental think tank which participated in the task force. An initial goal of the action plan is to achieve a 25 percent reduction below 1990 GHG emission levels by 2020, she explains.
"The goal is big and it can't be achieved without significant money and programs from the city and from the private sector," Evens says, noting the current economic crisis will pose greater challenges to accomplishing that target. However, "saving money will become more important and energy efficiency will be more of a priority for everyone," she adds.
The city of Chicago has many programs already in the works to reduce GHG emissions. Some efforts include: ongoing retrofitting of its own buildings to make them more energy efficient, installing emission reduction devices on garbage trucks and replacing some of its car fleet for city workers with hybrid vehicles and more fuel efficient cars, says Merritt.
Individuals can reduce their personal carbon footprint too by taking on the action plan's $800 challenge. By adopting a few small (and mostly free) changes in the way Chicagoans live and move around, the action plan's authors estimate anyone doing so will shrink the amount of GHG emissions they contribute to their surroundings and save at least $800 a year in the process.
A few suggestions include: reduce the heat setting in your homes to save $129 per year; swap out nine incandescent bulbs for CFLs and save $108 a year; and slash one 10-mile car trip out of your weekly driving and cut fuel costs by about $99.
"We all have a responsibility to get involved," asserts Marjorie Isaacson, director of research and operations at CNT Energy. "We also have a responsibility to hold the city to the plan they put out and encourage them not to do stupid things."
