Author Archives: slcgreen

Help SLC Win a $150K Grant to Revitalize the Utah Pickle Company Building

We need your vote! Help Salt Lake City win a grant to restore a historic building, ensuring the sustainability and preservation of a great space in our community.

Salt Lake City is one of just 25 cities selected nationwide to compete, and is calling on its residents, business owners, patrons, and visitors to get behind the effort. The City has the chance to receive up to $150,000 in grant funding for the restoration of the historic Utah Pickle Company building. Built in 1894, this former pickle warehouse is located at 741 South 400 West in Salt Lake City’s Granary District, which recently received Utah’s first neighborhood business district Main Street America designation.

Restoring the Utah Pickle Company building will provide the Granary District with much-needed event space, a media production studio, flex office spaces for local artists and entrepreneurs, and a community garden!

Want to help Salt Lake City win?

1. Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/voteyourmainstreet

2. Make an account

3. Vote for SLC (up to 5 votes per person, per day!)

4. Login and vote each day until Oct. 31^st

Top: Mayor Biskupski speaks at the opening of the Liberty Wells Community Garden in 2016. A new community garden is just one of the proposed additions to the Utah Pickle Company building. Bottom: The Utah Pickle Company building in 1936 and today.

Continue reading →

Be Prepared for Climate Emergencies, Joint Op-Ed from SLC’s Sustainability & Emergency Management Directors

With all of the storms, hurricanes, and wildfires hitting our country this fall, we need to take the opportunity of September being Emergency Preparedness Month to prepare for and mitigate climate change.

Read the op-ed published in The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City’s directors of Sustainability and Emergency Preparedness.

By Vicki Bennett and Cory Lyman

September is Emergency Preparedness Month.

While Utahns traditionally take important measures to prepare for sudden natural disasters such as earthquakes, we also need to think about taking mitigating action for climate-related events such as extreme flooding, changing water supplies, wildfire and heat waves.

This need is amplified by the awful pictures we see of Hurricane Harvey and Irma and the destruction they have wrought. In Texas alone initial estimates are putting the damage at over $180 billion – that is billion, with a “b” – and we can’t start to comprehend numbers like that.

Scientists have been warning us for years that a warming climate increases the strength of storms like these — larger, powerful and devastating to our communities.

One month before Harvey hit, Salt Lake City experienced our own 200-year storm. .

CONTINUE ON THE TRIBUNE’S SITE.

“Leave your Leaves!” This Fall, try mulching your leaves at home

In the fall, when autumn brings a chill to the air, and Salt Lake’s oaks and elms and other deciduous trees drop their leaves, many of us turn on the blowers, haul out the rakes, and get ready for some serious work.

But—have you considered an alternative? Using some or all of your leaves to mulch your yard or garden? Continue reading →

Riverfest 2017 is Right Around the Corner!

Saturday, September 23, 2017 3:00pm 7:00pm

Fairpark Trailead: 1220 W North Temple, Salt Lake City, UT

The Get into the River Festival is a month-long series of community events centered on the Jordan River and Jordan River Parkway.

This Saturday, September 23, the Festival brings together the community, businesses and local governments to celebrate, restore, explore and recreate on the Jordan River corridor.

Continue reading →

“Live Electric” EV & E-Bike Discounts Through Sept. 30

Do you hate bad air days? We do too. Luckily, there are more and more options for cleaner transportation in Salt Lake City from Ride With Hive to the Live Electric EV & E-Bike discount program, a deal worth looking into if you have ever considered purchasing an electric vehicle.

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Mayor Biskupski Announces New Solar Installations Completed on Seven Government Facilities

September 14, 2017: Mayor Biskupski announces the completion of rooftop solar installations on seven city buildings, totaling 756 panels and 320,000 kW/year.

On Thursday at Fire Station 10, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski, Fire Chief Karl Lieb and Tyler Poulson from the Sustainability Department discussed the City’s recent investment in solar power on seven separate municipal facilities, including five fire stations.

This latest round of installations doubles the total number of Salt Lake City municipal sites with solar energy to 14 separate facilities. When combined with the City’s recent enrollment in the Rocky Mountain Power Subscriber Solar Program, the total amount of renewable energy projects equals roughly 12 percent of annual electricity needs for City government facilities.

The locations receiving solar installations thus far in 2017 include Fire Station 1, Fire Station 4, Fire Station 7, Fire Station 10, Fire Station 13, Regional Athletic Complex and Pioneer Police Precinct. In total, 756 solar panels were added and they will provide between 17 percent and 92 percent of onsite annual electricity needs, depending on the facility. Continue reading →

UTA HIVE: Trax, Buses, and S-line Streetcar for $42/mo.

by Colin Green

Another summer has come and gone, can you believe it? The days are getting shorter and the fall equinox is right around the corner. Crisp morning air greets us as we step outside, sending kids off to school and beginning our morning commutes.

Autumn is a time of fresh starts and new routines. This transition is a great time to build positive habits that will carry smoothly into the busy year ahead.

We’d like to encourage you to consider integrating a lower emission commute into your routine this fall.

Around the globe, urban transit is the single greatest source of transportation related emissions and it’s growing. By riding public transit, even a few days a week, you can do your part to reduce emissions.

Driving alone in your vehicle is also a major source of local air pollution. Did you know that over 50% of Salt Lake City’s air pollution comes from transportation? By building public transit into your routine, you can make a difference on a local and global level.

The Hive Pass can help you do that! This Salt Lake City subsidized program, which launched several years ago, offers City residents half off the monthly UTA pass! Continue reading →

Eat Local Week is Back!

Eat Local Week is back! This fun week, sponsored by a variety of groups including Salt Lake City, is dedicated to helping you eat more local food.

This year there are a number of events that will get you into the local food spirit including lectures, workshops, and even a challenge: Can you eat every meal with food grown or produced in Utah this week?

Food that is produced locally is inherently more sustainable and this event series is a good reminder to take a look at your food habits and consider where your food comes from.

Here’s why it matters: Continue reading →

Salt Lake City Passes Ordinance to Reduce Air Pollution from Buildings by Improving Energy Use

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 30, 2017

Salt Lake City buildings. photo by Peter Nelson

At their August 29, 2017 Public Hearing, the Salt Lake City Council passed an ordinance proposed by Mayor Jackie Biskupski and the Sustainability Department aimed at cutting energy costs, improving local air quality, and reducing the city’s carbon footprint.

With one dissenting vote, the Council approved the “Energy Benchmarking & Transparency Ordinance,” which is projected to save local buildings owners $15.8 million in annual energy costs and eliminate over 29 tons of criteria pollutants from Salt Lake City’s air each year.

The market-based ordinance works by phasing-in new requirements for buildings over 25,000 square feet to “benchmark” or measure their energy usage annually.

“This ordinance has been in the works for over a year,” said Mayor Biskupski. “Over that time, it’s been a case study in collaborative policy making and I want to thank all the stakeholders involved. I’m proud that we ended up with a policy that will help clear the air, save building owners’ money, improve transparency, and reduce Salt Lake City’s carbon footprint.” Continue reading →

Agreement Reached for Utah Rooftop Solar

On Monday, the Governor’s Office of Energy Development issued news that a significant agreement had been reached between parties previously at odds over how to move forward with rooftop solar development in Utah.

The main point of contention was how to compensate rooftop solar owners for the excess electricity they sell back to the utility. In November 2016, Rocky Mountain Power proposed a change in their rate structure that could make it more difficult for homeowners to afford solar panels.

Because Salt Lake City is committed to advancing clean energy and supports the growth in rooftop solar, we opposed the proposed changes to the rate structure. In other states, notably Nevada, where similar changes have taken effect, the solar industry has imploded.

At about the same time, the Governor’s Office of Energy Development stepped in, outside of the formal Public Service Commission process, to try and broker an agreement on this thorny issue. Continue reading →