Tag Archives: slc

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.

Continue reading →

Launch of Local Food Microgrant Fund

Salt Lake City is proud to unveil a new grant program, offering $85,000 to spur local sustainable farming efforts.

Because just 3 percent of the fruits and 2 percent of the vegetables consumed by residents are grown in Utah, this program aims to support a more resilient local food system.

In partnership with Urban Food Connections of Utah—the non-profit affiliated with the Downtown Alliance– we’ll be granting money to farmers who want to expand their operations with sustainability in mind. Continue reading →

Alternative Transportation Once a Week: Salt Lake City Employees Take a Clean Air Challenge

by Eli Wire

It’s January, and while you might be focusing on a fresh start to the New Year, you may have noticed Salt Lake City’s air has been anything but fresh. It’s something every Salt Lake City resident is familiar with, and whether you call it smog, inversion, pollution, or just plain bad air, each of us can have an impact on our air quality.

Here at Salt Lake City Corp, we’re doing everything we can to clear the air. One of those is an employee alternative transportation challenge! This month, we’re asking all 3,000 of Salt Lake City’s employees to take part by picking at least one day per week to get to work without driving alone in their vehicles.

The City makes this easy by providing full-time employees with transit passes. “Alternative transportation” also means biking or walking to work; finding a carpool buddy; or telecommuting.

The Challenge also extends to other clean air actions through our sustainability platform called Empower SLC, which was designed and is powered by Sustain3.

Here’s how the Clean Air Challenge works: Continue reading →

Salt Lake City Green Drinks + e2 Business Event

It’s the 4th annual Salt Lake City Green Drinks + e2 Business event! The event will take place Wednesday, February 24th from 6:00pm-9:00pm at Cytybyrd Cafe and Restaurant in the City & County Building, 451 S State Street, Salt Lake City.

6:00 pm: Mingle and Network
Meet and greet with e2 businesses, have a drink and enjoy some light fare from Cytybyrd.

7:00 pm: Get Your Green Learn On! Learn about the e2 Business program from Peter Nelson and hear from Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski.

All are encouraged to bike, ride UTA or walk to the event. The City & County Building is easily accessible from either the Library or Courthouse TRAX stations.

*$5-$10 requested donation

Salt Lake City’s e2 Business program is dedicated to helping Salt Lake’s business community run in a more environmentally and economically sustainable manner. The e2 Business program is entirely funded and managed by the City. Participation is free to any business located within Salt Lake City limits.

Salt Lake City Green Drinks chapter typically meets once a month and is an informal networking opportunity for people interested in sustainability to get together & talk “green.” If you’d like to receive invitations to events as a member of SLC Green Drinks, please email slcgreendrinks2@gmail.com to be added to the email list.

Climate Week: Local Climate Action Receives National Attention

Under Mayor Ralph Becker’s leadership, Salt Lake City has taken a proactive approach to climate preparedness and resilience. Learn more about the City’s accomplishments and goals on SLCgreen.com.

And that local action has been receiving some national attention! Recently, the White House and U.S. Department of Energy designated Salt Lake City as a Climate Action Champion community. A total of 16 U.S. communities were recognized as inaugural Climate Action Champions.

In March, Mayor Becker was invited to contribute to the White House Blog, touting the progress made right here in Salt Lake City as a national example of success. View “Local Climate Action Takes Center Stage at the National League of Cities Conference.”

Mayor Becker Launches SLC Kids Explore Challenge to Salt Lake City Families

@SLCMayorsOffice Instagram

Go, Seek, Discover: 30 Minutes in Nature for 30 Days

SALT LAKE CITY – Mayor Ralph Becker launched the SLC Kids Explore program on Thursday and issued a challenge to local youth (and their parents) to spend at least 30 minutes a day outdoors connecting with nature for a 30-day period. SLC Kids Explore was designed to create exciting new outdoor opportunities for students and to raise public awareness about the enormous health and societal benefits of spending time in nature.

“Our children benefit enormously from spending more time in the outdoors,” said Mayor Becker. “Our goal for the SLC Kids Explore project is to create and instill a passion and appreciation for nature in our kids through outdoor play and educational experiences. Salt Lake City is home to one of the most beautiful natural settings in the country and it’s important we pass on our enjoyment and benefits of getting outdoors, and a sense of stewardship, to our children.”

A directory of free nature activities is available on the new public calendar at www.goseekdiscover.com with suggestions on different ways families can get active while having fun and exploring new dimensions of Salt Lake City. Participants can post their activities, share stories and earn activity pass rewards for themselves and their families.

An important element of SLC Kids Explore is to lay the groundwork, through education and outdoor experiences, to cultivate the next generation of local environmental stewards. These young people will certainly be tasked with addressing the increasingly devastating effects of climate change and the mounting pressures on ecological balance. For many Salt Lake City children, more contact with nearby nature, surrounding mountains and parks will literally open up new vistas with lifelong impacts.

Meet the Master Recyclers!

The inaugural class of Salt Lake City Master Recyclers are more than halfway through the program, and they are loving it!

So far, the class has explored the Salt Lake County Landfill operation, learned about Salt Lake City’s curbside sanitation services (your friendly weekday garbage, recycling and compost collection), taken a behind-the-scenes tour of Rocky Mountain Recycling’s facility, explored the ins and outs of the City’s composting operation and, most recently, “tagged” along with Salt Lake City’s can inspection team.

What’s up next? A waste audit with Momentum Recycling and a tour of their local clean glass recycling facility, the climate impacts of waste and a class on effective community engagement strategies. Upon completion of the program later this month, each participate will dedicate 10 hours of volunteer time helping to educate the community about what they learned. At that point, they’ll become certified Master Recyclers!

Are you interested in participating in the future? Check out the newly launched SLCMasterRecycler.com!

Encouraging Alternative Transportation: e2 Best Practice Series

The April Best Practices session was held at Impact HUB, Salt Lake City’s newly completed headquarters at 150 S. State Street. In one of their beautifully finished lecture rooms, the group enjoyed sandwiches from Even Stevens while hearing presentations from Bike Utah, the Governor’s Office of Energy Development, and Utah Transit Authority.

Phil Sarnoff, Director of Bike Utah, started off the session with a look at the policy and advocacy work his organization is doing to make Salt Lake City an ever more bikeable community.

Richard Brockmyer of Utah Transit Authority discussed new projects UTA is currently pursuing, including First Mile/Last Mile. Richard explained that the first and last mile of travel when using public transportation are the most crucial, and so UTA has unveiled a suite of strategies for improving that ridership experience, including facilities for bikes and vanpooling service.

The lunch session finished off with a group discussion where the attendees could pose their own questions and thoughts with the speakers from Bike Utah, UTA and Governor’s Office of Energy Development. There were many questions for Blake Thomas of O.E.D. about the work being done in his office to support for alternative fuel vehicles in Utah.

e2 + Green Drinks = A Great Event

On Tuesday, Salt Lake City Green Drinks joined forces with SLCgreen’s e2 Business Program to host an evening of delicious food, refreshing drinks and amazing networking among SLC’s sustainability community at Local First Utah.

Peter Nelson with SLCgreen’s e2 business program welcomed the group to SLC Green Drinks and talked about how the e2 Business program helps businesses pave the way towards more sustainable practices. Learn more.

The group noshed on delicious food from Mazza Middle Eastern Cuisine and enjoyed beverages from both Epic Brewing Company and Uinta Brewing (all Salt Lake City e2 businesses!)

Local First Utah generously donated their space, located in the heart of the Central Ninth Business District, for the event. Thanks to everyone who attended!

e2 Business Yearbook: 2014

Did you know that Salt Lake City maintains a network of local businesses committed to reducing their environmental impact? These green businesses belong to the e2 Business Program, a 100+ list of SLC businesses that are taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of their operations and seeing a positive return on their balance sheets.

The e2 program recently hosted their annual Members Night with Mayor Ralph Becker at Wasatch Brew Pub in Sugar House. At that event, they unveiled the 2014 e2 Business Yearbook, highlighting a year of standout initiatives and fantastic networking by SLC’s top businesses.

Check out the new e2 Business Yearbook for the full scoop!

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