Category Archives: Energy Efficiency

Salt Lake City’s 2017 Building Energy Efficiency Challenge Kicks Off

Salt Lake City and Salt Lake Chamber partner on the Third Annual Skyline Challenge to accelerate commercial building energy efficiency

As part of her mission to improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions, and form strong partnerships with the business community, Mayor Jackie Biskupski is pleased to launch the Third Annual Skyline Challenge—this year with the Salt Lake Chamber joining the roster of partners.

The annual Skyline Challenge is a voluntary program to accelerate investment in energy efficiency from large commercial buildings and raise public awareness of building energy performance while creating jobs and fostering a stronger local economy.

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Mayor Biskupski’s State of the City Sustainability Highlights

We’ve accomplished a lot in the last year! From a Cooperation Statement with our electric utility, to a new community garden, to a mobile farm stand, to the announcement of ambitious climate goals, Salt Lake City has made great strides in 2016. Read on for Sustainability highlights from the Mayor’s State of the City.

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Mayor Biskupski Sends Proposed Energy Efficiency and Air Quality Ordinance to City Council

**PRESS RELEASE JANUARY 17, 2017**

As part of Salt Lake City’s commitment to pursuing cost-effective measures to reduce air pollution, Mayor Jackie Biskupski transmitted to the City Council an energy benchmarking and tune-up ordinance for large commercial buildings, which the Council will consider today during their work session.

The proposed market-based ordinance would eliminate over 98 tons of criteria pollutants from Salt Lake City’s air each year by phasing-in new requirements for buildings over 25,000 square feet to “benchmark” their energy usage annually, using the EPA’s free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager software, followed by energy “tune-ups” for low-performing buildings.

Benchmarking allows building owners and managers to identify if their buildings are good candidates for efficiency improvements to reduce energy waste—and therefore air pollution. The free Portfolio Manager® program also gives buildings an energy score from 1 to 100, with anything 75 or over considered to be high-performing.

Buildings would then report their ENERGY STAR score to Salt Lake City.

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2016 Year in Review

The beginning of a new year is a good time to take note of all the achievements we’ve made over the past 12 months. It was a banner year for Sustainability in SLC– from our office becoming a full Department, to launching a new market program, to establishing ambitious clean energy goals.

We publish an annual report detailing our major accomplishments for the year. You can read the highlights from 2016 below, or download the full report here.

Thank you to our many partners who’ve helped us along the way. And happy New Year from all of us at SLCgreen!

Notable achievements in 2016 include:

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Mayor Biskupski Recognizes Business Leadership Enhancing the Salt Lake City Economy and Cutting Pollution

“Head of the class.” “Leaders.” “Innovators.” They’re called many things. At Salt Lake City, we call the building owners that go above-and-beyond to cut emissions our “Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Winners”, and it is our pleasure to introduce you to them.

Launched in May 2014, the multi-year Mayor’s Skyline Challenge encourages building owners across Salt Lake City to proactively improve the energy performance of their buildings, reducing emissions and saving money. On July 15, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski joined business and community leaders to honor the four winners of the second annual Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Awards for their leadership in Project Skyline over the past year. Continue reading →

Salt Lake City Launches Ambitious New Climate Plan

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and City Council have committed to a Joint Resolution to transition the community to 100 percent renewable electricity sources by 2032 and an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2040.

The Mayor and City Councilmember Erin Mendenhall were joined by other City leaders and community members on the steps of the City and County Building today to announce the resolution.

“This is the most ambitious step ever taken by Salt Lake City to address the threat of climate change,” said Mayor Biskupski. “This commitment places the City among leading communities worldwide that acknowledge our responsibility to rapidly reduce emissions and forge a new path forward that protects our economies, societies and overall human well-being.”

Salt Lake City had previously committed to 100 percent renewable electricity sources for its government operations, along with major carbon reductions for City operations, but this resolution expands the scope to include all electricity and emissions on a community scale.

The Joint Resolution cited the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and being driven by the burning of fossil fuels. The Resolution also acknowledged local impacts such as changes in water systems and extreme weather events that are affecting Salt Lake City now and will be exacerbated in the future.

“We can tackle this challenge and deliver clean energy solutions that will simultaneously improve air quality, protect public health and deliver local jobs. Leading on climate change today is an obligation we all share with each other and to future generations,” stated Mayor Biskupski.

Visit www.slcgreen.com/climatepositive for more information about the plan.

See the full Carbon Reduction Joint Resolution here.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7tXppIgsLE&w=560&h=315]

Help Salt Lake City Chart a Path Toward Cleaner Air

The American Lung Association just released their 2016 State of the Air report which compares the air quality in cities across the nation. Unfortunately the report shows that the Salt Lake City area has moved from #7 to #6 on the list of “most polluted” cities. That’s bad news!

Poor air quality is now recognized as an urgent public health and economic development issue, which threatens continued growth of local businesses and relocation of residents and businesses to the City. In addition to being energy efficient in our homes, improving energy efficiency in our big buildings plays an important role in contributing to cleaner air.

The good news is that making our buildings more efficient is a key strategy to help reduce local air pollution and carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Building efficiency investments also save money by reducing utility costs, keeping money in our local economy. As Utah’s Capitol City, Salt Lake City is committed to leading by example by implementing building efficiency best practices in our municipal facilities. Salt Lake City municipal departments regularly evaluate and implement energy-saving best practices in all major City facilities.

Salt Lake City wants input from residents and local businesses about what kind of new programs and policies the City should pursue to help reduce the pollution that stems from commercial buildings across the City. On Open City Hall we’ve outlined some common best-practices for increasing energy efficiency in buildings. Learn more and share your feedback here! Let’s clean up our air together!

Visit Open City Hall

The State of Salt Lake City’s Air

Today the American Lung Association released its 17th annual State of the Air report, which ranks the air quality in our nation’s cities and counties. Salt Lake City, Provo and Orem ranked 6^th for short-term particulate exposure.

Mayor Biskupski has announced an aggressive air quality platform that aims to drastically reduce pollution through improving energy efficiency in buildings, increasing use of renewable energy like solar, sourcing cleaner vehicles, and creating a robust clean air network focused on advancing clean air legislation.

Join the City of Salt Lake and do your part to reduce pollution!

Stay informed.

Sign up for air quality email alerts provided by the Utah Department of Air Quality, or download the UtahAir app for iPhone or Android.
Explore what the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) is doing to improve air quality. Salt Lake City and its UCAIR partners are taking action every day. #ShowUCAIR.

Take action even on voluntary air days. This is when we have the best chance to keep our air cleaner, longer – especially when we know that an inversion has set up in the valley.

Skip and reduce trips.

Aim to leave your car parked, one more day a week. Modern vehicles emit the vast majority of trip pollution in those first two minutes on the road. Skipping car trips by using public transportation, arranging a carpool or other alternatives make a measurable impact.
On days you must drive, chain your trips together to reduce “cold start” pollution.

Explore Salt Lake City on public transit. Ride UTA can help you plan your next transit adventure.

Commit to being idle free! This is one of the easiest things you can do to have a positive impact. Idling wastes gas and money and adds unnecessary pollution into our air. Plus when you idle, you’re exposing yourself and your passengers to higher levels of harmful pollutants.

Skip the fire! Burning wood, whether in your fireplace or fire pit, has a huge impact on our air quality. One fireplace can emit as much particulate pollution as 90 sport utility vehicles.

Get active. Biking is a great way to get some exercise and limit your impact on air quality. The Bicycle Collective shares some great tips in this UCAIR spotlight.

Take the Clear the Air Challenge! Find new ways to drive down your miles and measure your impact.

Increase the energy efficiency of your home.

Weatherize your home, and cash in on Rocky Mountain Power and Questar Adding insulation and upgrading your windows will not only save you money on your utility bills, it will keep your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
Upgrade your furnace and water heater. Rebates are available for residents who upgrade their furnace and water heaters. Water heaters are a significant source of NOx emissions and that adds to Utah’s wintertime PM 2.5, problem.
Swap out your lightbulbs to LEDs. By replacing your home’s five most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs with ENERGY STAR rating, you can save $75 each year.

Opt for people powered or electric tools for yard work.

Get exercise while doing yard work by using push mowers instead of gas powered lawn mowers. According to the U.S. EPA, a new gas lawn mower produces as many VOCs and NOx emissions in in in one hour as 11 new cars.
Not able to use a push mower or manual tools? Look for electric alternatives to mowers, leaf blowers and weed whackers.

Install Solar! Installing solar on your home does not have to be overly complex or costly. Check out Solar Simplified and find out how to start the process. If you aren’t able to install rooftop solar, keep an eye out for Rocky Mountain Power’s Subscriber Solar program launching soon!

Announcing New Community Solar Programs

Utah Clean Energy is thrilled to announce the launch of not one, but two more Community Solar programs; Mountain Town Community Solar and U Community Solar.

Community Solar makes putting solar on your roof simple and streamlined by helping neighbors team up and take advantage of a community network and volume pricing. See below for details of the two distinct Community Solar programs and find out which one will work for you.

Mountain Town Community Solar Launch Event, March 28

Summit and Wasatch Counties are giving new meaning to the phrase power in numbers. Community volunteers have come together with non-profit organizations Summit Community Power Works and Utah Clean Energy to launch Mountain Town Community Solar – a program to help residents tackle the solar process as a team, realize cost savings through bulk purchasing power, and energize their communities with clean energy.

Mountain Town Community Solar will host its launch event on Monday, March 28th at 6:00 pm at the Jim Santy Auditorium (1255 Park Ave., Park City, UT, 84060). RSVP here.

Workshop for U Community Solar, March 30

Back by popular demand, the University of Utah is once again partnering with Utah Clean Energy to bring members of the campus community in Salt Lake, Summit, and Davis Counties the opportunity to go solar.

Members of the University of Utah campus community (including alumni, faculty, staff, students, and campus guests) are eligible for a substantial discount on the cost of rooftop solar and a streamlined, simplified solar installation process.

The first workshop for U Community Solar will be held on Wednesday, March 30th at the A. Ray Olpin University of Utah Union, Union Theater, Salt Lake City, UT 83112. RSVP here.

Intermountain Sustainability Summit March 24 &25

The Intermountain Sustainability Summit returns to Weber State University March 24th and 25th, 2016. The summit offers over a dozen sessions and in depth workshops addressing climate, water, recycling, clean energy and more. Join sustainability professionals, civic leaders, businesses, nonprofits, educators, students and community members to learn, network, and develop strategies for implementing sustainability across Utah and the Intermountain West.

The summit kicks off with a conference day, Thursday, March 24th. The keynote speaker will be Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor of GreenBiz Group Inc. Makower has been a leading voice on business, the environment and the bottom line for the past 25 years. In 2014 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Institute of Sustainability Professionals. He will be joined by over 40 speakers throughout the conference to inspire, inform, and show how businesses, policy makers, nonprofits, and community members are making a difference. SLCgreen’s Tyler Poulson will be presenting on strategies for engaging employees on climate change to encourage grassroots, participatory leadership within an organization. For additional speaker information, visit the webpage.

Workshops will be held on Friday, March 25th. Workshops include:

Community Zero Waste Road Map
LEED Green Associate Workshop
Smart Cycling

Looking to be involved and grow your business, nonprofit or idea? See the Sponsor, Exhibitor, or Poster page to be a part of the Summit. Register by March 15th for early bird pricing. Visit the Intermountain Sustainability Summit webpage for more information! We hope to see you there!