Category Archives: General Sustainability

Off Broadway Community Garden Celebration

Today we celebrated the opening of Salt Lake City’s newest community garden, Off Broadway Community Garden. Media representatives and residents joined Mayor Ralph Becker, Alex Eaton of the Community Foundation of Utah, Ashley Patterson of Wasatch Community Gardens, and Abby Bluth of Off Broadway Community Garden for the celebration.

“Salt Lake City recognizes the high demand for community gardens in our downtown core, which highlights their importance in building a strong local food system,” said Mayor Becker. “The Off Broadway Community Garden project, located in a neighborhood with a two-year waiting list for garden plots, now provides 30 more city residents the opportunity to grow and enjoy fresh organic produce.” Here’s a link to a great video of Mayor Becker’s speech!

Last year, Salt Lake City’s Green City Growers program was awarded $50,000 in grant funds to support the development of two new community gardens, including the Off Broadway Community Garden. The award included $25,000 from the Local Sustainability Matching Fund, a Partners for Places project of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. The Community Foundation of Utah provided the $25,000 grant match and will manage permanent endowments.

“We are committed to sustainable nonprofits and sustainable communities, and this project is a demonstration of both,” said Alex Eaton, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Utah. “We are proud to support this project, which increases access to healthy food and strengthens our local community.”

Salt Lake City works directly with Wasatch Community Gardens and community members to develop gardens within City limits. Wasatch Community Gardens is a community-based nonprofit that has served Salt Lake County for over 25 years.

For more information on the Green City Growers Program, which provides City owned/managed land for the development of community gardens, please visit www.SLCgreen.com.

News links:

KUER News: http://kuer.org/post/slc-community-gardeners-struggle-meet-demand#stream/0

SLC Mayor’s Office: http://www.slcmayor.com/read/2015/8/24/mayor-becker-community-partners-to-announce-new-downtown-community-garden

Solar Farm Tour

Tyler Poulson (pictured) from SLCgreen traveled to Parowan, UT with a busload of other solar enthusiasts to tour Utah’s first utility scale solar project. The tour was hosted by Utah Clean Energy, EDCUtah, and the Utah Governor’s Office of Energy Development.

This project is the first of many large-scale solar installations that will occur in Utah by the end of 2016. Additional details are included below:

• This 340,000 solar panel project is being developed by a Norwegian company (Scatec Solar), but over 80% of the onsite labor to-date and sub-contracted work is from Utah. Part of the land is being leased from an alfalfa farmer who eagerly moved his operations, and water rights, elsewhere in spacious Iron County.

• Scatec Solar has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Rocky Mountain Power (RMP). The contract locks in an electricity price for RMP and its customers.

• This specific solar power plant covers 630 acres. Each row of panels will track the sun east-to-west daily to produce enough electricity for about 60,000 energy-efficient residential customers (assuming use of 3,400 kWh / year). See a panoramic view of the plant. Generating the same amount of electricity with coal over a 25-year time frame (equal to the warranty of the panels), would require about 13,000 pounds of coal per individual panel installed.

• This 104 megawatt (DC) solar project will be fully operational in December 2015, but represents just 10% of the total new utility-scale solar development that will occur in Utah over the next 17 months. An additional 900 MW, over roughly 3,000,000 new solar panels, will be added by third-party companies. All of these arrangements are contracted through PPAs with RMP at Avoided Cost pricing, locking in a fixed rate for energy for decades.

Here is a link to a video about the tour, and more photos are available on Utah Clean Energy’s Facebook page.

Inspiring Outdoor Stewards

Salt Lake City was selected as one of the first 50 cities to participate in a nationwide movement to inspire and encourage young people to experience the outdoors. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell joined Mayor Ralph Becker, Vice President and General Manager of American Express Salt Lake City Victor Ingalls, and President and CEO of the YMCA of Northern Utah Rich West to announce grants totaling $258,653 to organizations throughout Utah, including the Utah Conservation Corps, Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, River Restoration Adventures for Tomorrow, and American Conservation Experience.

“For the health of our economy and our nation’s public lands, it’s critical that we work now to establish deep, meaningful connections between young people – from every background and every community – and America’s great outdoors.” -Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

The initiative, funded as part of a $5 million national commitment by the American Express Foundation, will provide two years of funding for the YMCA of Northern Utah to create a community coordinator position to facilitate collaboration, grow resources, and increase participation in outdoor programs on all public lands in Salt Lake City, from local parks to federal lands and waters. The funding will also support efforts to engage young adults and veterans to serve on the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps and engage new volunteers during next year’s National Park Service Centennial.

“When young people are given an opportunity to care for public lands, their experiences often inspire lifetime connections to their backyard parks and beyond,” said Secretary Jewell. “Volunteering opens doors to new and exciting career opportunities that can transform the personal lives of youth while benefiting the communities and special places they work to improve.”

“Salt Lake City is home to one of the most beautiful natural settings in the country and we couldn’t be more thrilled by this news. Our children benefit enormously from spending more time in nature, and this new funding will help us expand our work in Salt Lake City to help increase the amount of time our kids spend outdoors.” – Mayor Ralph Becker.

Victor Ingalls, American Express Vice President and General Manager in Salt Lake City said, “Since our founding more than 160 years ago, American Express has seen how America’s parks and public lands contribute to our sense of national and local identity, and we are proud to lead an effort to mobilize a new generation of volunteers to protect, conserve and revitalize America’s public lands and treasured national parks.”

“Many people in our urban neighborhoods don’t always have the chance to experience all that our public lands in and around the city have to offer,” said Rich West, President and CEO of the YMCA of Northern Utah. “This initiative will help us bring together leaders in conservation, education, recreation and service to provide opportunities to deepen connections to these natural and historic sites, develop important skills, and engage in activities where they can give back and strengthen our community.”

The movement is part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Outside initiative and part an overall strategy by the Obama Administration to connect young people to the outdoors. Other efforts include the President’s recently announced Every Kid in A Park initiative to provide all fourth grade students and their families with free admission to national parks and other public lands and waters for a full year, and the National Park Service’s Find Your Park campaign preparing for next year’s centennial of the National Park System.

For more information about the initiative, visit: www.doi.gov/youth

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Press Release, “Interior Department Selects Salt Lake City as Priority City to Connect Youth to the Great Outdoors,” August 6, 2015. http://goo.gl/uxued5

President Announces Clean Power Plan

Today President Obama announced the Clean Power Plan rule. The Clean Power Plan, proposed by Environmental Protection Agency, is a plan to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants. This plan will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment. There were previously no national limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants, which account for forty percent of U.S. carbon emissions and are the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. These EPA-proposed standards are the first-ever national limits on this type of pollution. Nationwide, the Clean Power Plan will help cut carbon pollution from the power sector by 30 percent below 2005 levels. (1) According to a recent survey by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, “A large majority of Americans support setting strict emission limits on coal-fired power plants.” (2)

Mayor Becker gave the following remarks:

“I applaud President Obama and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for announcing the Clean Power Plan today. The Plan is a forward-looking and common sense policy to address one of the most critical issues facing local communities: climate change.

Like many other cities across the Nation, Salt Lake City is actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions responsible for contributing to climate change. In particular, Salt Lake City continues to be a leader through many initiatives, including increasing energy efficiency of our existing municipal facilities, requiring all new municipal facilities to achieve “net zero” status, and promoting and investing in clean distributed solar energy. These investments not only cut pollution, and save money on our energy bills, but they make Salt Lake City an energy-smart and more livable city.

Over the coming days and weeks, I look forward to learning about the full scope and the long-term benefits that the Clean Power Plan will have on our communities.”

In addition to his work with the City, Mayor Becker is serving as the president of the National League of Cities, which advocates on behalf of over 19,000 member cities, villages, and towns from across the country. Mayor Becker has asked the National League of Cities to act as “an army of advocates” to encourage better climate change policy and work with the administration to assist state, local, and tribal work on this critical issue. #ActOnClimate.

Sources:

Environmental Protection Agency, http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan, July 31, 2015.
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, http://environment.yale.edu/poe/v2014/?&est=CO2limits, August 3, 2015.

Master Recycler Fall Session

By Josh Lipman, SLCgreen Intern

After the first successful round of training members of our community to be experts in recycling, SLCgreen and the Department of Sanitation are opening up applications for the second round of the Master Recycler training program.

Participants in the Master Recycler program take a hands on approach to learning about sustainable waste management in Salt Lake City by studying and experiencing the most up to date recycling techniques through classroom sessions and visits to the different waste management and recycling facilities in our city. Master Recyclers then can educate and engage the community, creating a network of environmentally consciousness Salt Lake City residents.

The fall Master Recycler class runs eight Thursdays from September 3^rd to October 22^nd. Applications are rolling and through August 28^th (dates subject to change), and the class is free of charge. All community members are encouraged to register and come learn about these key systems in the city by emailing John Boulanger at john.boulanger@slcgov.com.

Community Gardens

By Nicole Muehle, SLCgreen Intern

Community gardens are starting to play a more vital role in the lives of those that live in Salt Lake City. The City has eight City-owned or managed sites with the appropriate sun exposure, waterlines, and conditions to create sustainable community gardens. A high demand of community gardens downtown highlights their importance to a strong, local food system and healthy food access. Growing food in a community garden gives those with little to no land the ability to have fresh organic produce.

One of the newest gardens, Off Broadway Community Garden, is located at 337 South 400 East. What is now a flourishing garden used to be a vacant lot! The history of Plot 337 is unique in that it was temporarily an art exhibit, created with the knowledge that demolition would ensue. From one art form to another, the parking lot has transformed into a vibrant and flourishing community garden. Some of the SLCgreen interns had the privilege of getting a tour of the garden.

If you are interested in learning more or having your own plot at one of the community gardens around the city, visit our webpage.

Here are some before and after photos of the Off Broadway Community Garden.

Buildings are Key to Salt Lake City’s Clean Air Future

Buildings represent a large and growing part of our local air quality problem. A new infographic, released at the Mayor’s Project Skyline Awards Ceremony, presents statistics on building energy efficiency and economic benefits. For example, buildings contribute nearly 40% of pollutants on a typical winter day. By making buildings more energy efficient, we can conserve enough resources to power up to 37,000 homes every year. If Salt Lake City were to adopt energy savings best practices, building owners across the city could save up to $48 million dollars annually.

As many know, Salt Lake City has significantly poor air quality, especially during the winter months; however, fewer know how dramatically we can improve our air quality by improving the energy efficiency of our buildings. By making large buildings in Salt Lake City more energy efficient, we could remove one million pounds of pollutants, which equates to taking 32,000 vehicles off the road for one year. Additionally, we would prevent 650 million pounds of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere each year! View the complete infographic for additional facts.

Join us and become a part of Project Skyline to save money, improve property values, and clean our air.

Salt Lake City Announces Project Skyline Challenge Award Winners

Today, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Matthew Dalbey, Director of the Office of Sustainable Communities for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joined City leaders and building owners in honoring the winners of the Project Skyline Mayor’s Challenge 2015 Awards. Project Skyline, a multi-year challenge to reduce building energy use in buildings across the city, was launched in May 2014. The goal is to challenge building owners across Salt Lake City to proactively meet – and exceed – the air quality and energy-saving targets of the Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015 by 15 percent by 2020. Throughout its first year, Project Skyline has been overwhelmingly successful, hosting educational and networking workshops, providing resources for evaluating the building’s energy use, and helping establish energy-saving goals for each business involved.

At the 2015 Project Skyline Awards Luncheon, five winners were recognized for their leadership in Challenge efforts over the past year.

This year, the Energy Innovator Award goes to Basic Research. Basic Research has improved the efficiency of their 230,000-square-foot facility by improving the lighting, HVAC systems, and installing the largest privately owned solar photovoltaic project in the state of Utah. By making these improvements, Basic Research has improved their ENERGY STAR score from 10 to 99.

The Sustained Excellence Award goes to Fidelity Investments. Across the country, Fidelity Investments is working to obtain LEED certification in 65 percent of their buildings and their location on 49 N 400 W is no exception. The building falls under LEED Silver certification, and recently, they added LED lighting and lighting controls and photovoltaic panels to improve the building’s ENERGYSTAR score to 96.

The McGillis School, a private co-ed school located on the Northeast bench of the Salt Lake Valley, has earned the Most-Improved EnergyStar Score Award. In 2014, the school reported an ENERYSTAR score of 97, which marks a 17 point improvement from 2013.

The Energy Efficiency Leadership Award goes to Newmark Grubb ACRES. Throughout the past year, Newmark Grubb ACRES has helped tremendously attending and presenting at multiple workshops. Company leadership also participates on BOMA Utah’s Energy and Sustainability committee and helped launch the BOMA Utah Kilowatt Crackdown. Additionally, the company is working on energy efficiency in several of its properties and are continuing to improve their ENERGYSTAR scores.

Lastly, the Benchmarking Champion Award goes to the Salt Lake City School District. Since 2009, the Salt Lake City School District has begun benchmarking to monitor energy consumption in over 40 buildings. Not only are 72 percent of the district’s schools benchmarked, but they are also certified ENERGY STAR buildings. They have seen an an 18 percent improvement in ENERGY STAR scores in all of their buildings.

Congratulations to these businesses. For more information on Project Skyline and the Mayor’s Challenge, visit our website.

Double Up Food Bucks

SLCgreen is excited to highlight the Double Up Food Bucks program, which began July 1^st, 2015 and is available at 19 different farmers’ markets around the state.

Back for its second year, this program helps low income families who participate in SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) stretch their food dollars by matching dollar for dollar on farmers’ market and farm stand purchases. This win-win-win program helps families afford fresh, healthy produce, while also supporting local farmers, and keeping food dollars within the local economy.

“According to a study completed by Sustainable Seattle, every dollar spent at a farmers’ market generates $2.80 of local economic activity. The benefit of Salt Lake City’s portion of the grant has potential to contribute as much as $336,000 to our local, Salt Lake City economy while increasing access to healthy food among our food insecure residents.”

Salt Lake City is committed to developing a more accessible, healthy, and equitable local food system. Food Security is one of the twelve core areas in the City’s Livability agenda. Therefore, Salt Lake City has committed $60,000 to the Double Up Food Bucks program. This funding will support the program in conjunction with additional Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grant funding awarded to Utahns Against Hunger.

So far this season there have already been 500 SNAP/ food stamp transactions at local farmers’ markets. With nearly 32,000 individuals participating in SNAP in Salt Lake City, the Double Up Food Bucks program will help even more families put fresh fruits and vegetables on the table.

For more information about how the program works, and where you can find a farmers’ market near you that supports this program, click here and visit the Utahns Against Hunger website.

Cottonwood Canyons Foundation Mountain Clean-up at Alta Ski Area, July 11th

By Nicole Muehle, SLCgreen Intern

Come out to Alta on Saturday, July 11^th from 8:00am to noon, and help clean-up Albion Basin. Volunteers will be able to ride the ski lift up to the top, and then hike down while picking up the winter’s trash. All volunteers are required to register by calling either (801) 466-6411 or emailing volunteer@cottonwoodcanyons.org.

For more information on events that Cottonwood Canyons Foundation will be holding, see the flyer below.