Clayton Launches Campaign To Become First Green Power Community
City will join with AmerenUE Pure Power to achieve designation
April 14, 2010
On April 13, Clayton’s Board of Aldermen voted to begin the process of making the City of Clayton the first city in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas and one of only 28 cities in the United States to qualify as a Green Power Community. With this designation, Clayton will become a partner with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in purchasing clean, renewable energy.
In a joint effort with Ameren UE Pure Power, Clayton will purchase green power and launch a citywide challenge to encourage private consumption of renewable energy via the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) or the installation of on site renewable energy by local businesses, residents and non-profit organizations.
The EPA Green Power Community (GPC) status recognizes the city’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint and protect the environment; increases community pride and community engagement in conservation efforts; and will earn Clayton national recognition as a U.S. EPA GPC. Under the program, Clayton’s Challenge goal will be to make green energy 2% of citywide energy consumption. The Challenge will be lead by the City, Ameren UE Pure Power and Clayton-based Microgrid Energy who together will work to enlist the support and use of clean energy by local businesses, residents and non-profits. The City and Ameren UE must provide data to the EPA on its progress towards achieving the 2% renewable energy target.
The City’s recent conservation efforts drill down to specific and very effective means for reducing its carbon footprint. But, the initiative started sixteen years ago with a residential recycling program. In 1997, the citizen advisory group, the Ecology and Environmental Awareness Committee, was established. Clayton was one of the first cities to implement single stream recycling and now sets a standard by recycling 30% of its total refuse collection compared to an average of 14% nationwide. It was the first of two Missouri cities to implement the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program for municipal buildings. Last year, Clayton became the second of the County’s 91 municipalities to adopt a citywide ban on smoking in public places.
“It amazes me to think about how far we’ve come in our efforts to preserve the environment,” said Mayor Linda Goldstein. “Clayton has been at the forefront of many environmental initiatives, and we have a community commitment to excel in this area.”
A force behind the city’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint is the PlanIt! Green Team, a committee comprised of representatives from each city department. This group is responsible for reducing 2010 cost for cleaning products by 36% by switching to more eco-friendly cleaning products. While conducting a citywide inventory of energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions using 2006 as the baseline year, the Team found that over two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions came from the commercial sector. Municipal operations such as city-owned buildings, facilities, streetlights, traffic signals, city vehicles and the city employees’ commute represented 1% of
citywide greenhouse gas emissions. The city hopes to reduce energy usage and related costs community-wide as well as those related to its own operations by setting short, medium and long term emissions reduction targets. Once these targets are set, the city will be developing a Local Climate Action Plan for reaching the emissions reduction targets.
Clayton has an extensive environmental section on its website at www.ci.clayton.mo.us with more details about the city’s conservation efforts, helpful tips and links.
