Equitable Energy Transition for a Sustainable Future

2023 Ideas Challenge Entry

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton is putting Rochester on a path to address climate change and make an equitable transition toward a clean energy future. The city’s co-designed task force is engaging with the community to forge the path ahead, and their new Sustainability and Resiliency Commission will prioritize their 107 delineated goals and recommendations. The city council, in agreement with the municipal power agency, agreed to move to 100% renewable energy by 2030 and transition the city and downtown into a geothermal energy district. Additionally, the city has adopted GHG standards, a new development code, a universal transportation plan, and is moving toward required benchmarking for buildings citywide (after a successful voluntary effort of well over 100 buildings).

 

Norton helped secure a federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding for education and outreach to diverse and underserved community members to ensure their participation in the clean energy future. And have also secured $2 million in federal funds for a district energy project.

Impact:

The city has found that the cost of the energy transition, despite some initial concern over costs, is often cost-neutral and may even be lower due to the federal funding opportunities. Several of the buildings have seen marked decreases in energy use. Norton’s efforts have helped to increase solar uptake by residents, which is expected to increase further with federal funding and ongoing community education efforts.

Reducing Emissions Across the Colorado Economy

2023 Ideas Challenge Entry

Colorado State Senator Chris Hansen introduced Senate Bill 23-016 which will help the state achieve emission reduction goals through a comprehensive approach addressing many sectors of the climate crisis. The bill activates every part of the economy to mitigate the climate crisis, incentivizing action from individuals, businesses, and state regulators. 

The bill advances bold greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals and provides incentives to reach them, such as a 33% tax incentive for individuals to transition to electric lawn equipment and a new authority of the energy and carbon management commission to promote carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Colorado. 

The bill also establishes a requirement of the Air Quality Control Commission to establish a first-of-its-kind fee/ton on GHGs, a requirement of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to consider and prioritize transmission line upgrades, and a requirement of the Public Employees Retirement Association to describe its climate-related investment risks, impacts, and strategies.

In addition, the legislation promotes renewable energy, including the recovery of wastewater thermal energy by allowing it to be included in utilities clean heat plans, a clause to prevent Home Owner Associations (HOAs) from disallowing heat pump systems, and a new fee for utilities if they are slow to interconnect distributed generation sources (e.g., rooftop solar systems).

Impact:

The bill will be successful if Colorado is on track to meet its emission reduction targets measured against its next interim target (26% reduction from 2005 levels by 2025). Also, if the state reaches its EPA ozone attainment levels, if there is additional transmission capacity added to existing lines to create a more resilient grid, and if we see geothermal, heat pump, and CCS projects built throughout the state.

New Requirements for Flood Resilient Infrastructure Investments

2023 Ideas Challenge Entry

Florida Representative Christine Hunschofsky’s Sea Level Rise Impact Projection legislation requires that public entities using state funding conduct sea level rise studies for any construction projects in areas threatened by sea level rise. This policy aims to give communities a better understanding of how flooding affects them and will empower them to take appropriate steps to prepare. The policy will lead to smart investments, saving communities money down the line and protecting residents and communities for future generations.

Impact:

Hunschofsky hopes this program will help raise awareness of the threat of sea level rise in vulnerable communities prone to flooding and sea level rise. Ultimately, the program aims to incentivize more investments in infrastructure planning and to build more resilient communities to flooding and sea level rise.

Climate Risk Analysis of Maryland’s Pension Investments

2023 Ideas Challenge Entry

Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman led the push for her state to approve legislation requiring that a consultant do a climate risk analysis of its $64 billion pension fund investments every other year. 

They have conducted several analyses demonstrating that rising temperatures will have a negative effect on their pension investments. This analysis provides the Board of Trustees and Chief Investment Officer the ability to take immediate action to ensure our investments are smart and sound based on climate risk.  

Additionally, they have codified that climate risk is investment risk and that actively seeking investments in the new green economy is imperative.

 

Impact:

The program is already having an impact, and the Comptroller office is using data to make changes to the state’s investment portfolio.

 

Ensuring Flood Resilient Infrastructure Investments

2023 Ideas Challenge Entry

Florida Representative Christine Hunschofsky’s Sea Level Rise Impact Projection legislation requires that public entities, who are using state funding, conduct sea level rise studies for construction projects in any area threatened by sea level rise – including those areas that are vulnerable and located in inland areas. This policy aims to give communities a better understanding of how flooding affects them and will empower them to take appropriate steps to prepare. The policy will lead to smart investments, saving communities money and protecting residents and communities for future generations.

 

Impact:

 Success will include having communities more aware of the areas that are prone to flooding and sea level rise. It will increase awareness that many areas beyond coastlines are impacted by sea level rise and flooding. Success will include flooding and sea level rise being included in infrastructure planning.

Senators Will Smith & Sarah Elfreth: Protecting Environmental Rights in Maryland

This session, the Maryland legislature will consider making access to clean air and water part of the state constitution. The Maryland Environmental Human Rights Amendment, co-sponsored by NewDEALers Senator Will Smith and Senator Sarah Elfreth, would help the legislature pursue significant climate solutions, while also providing legal protections for residents disproportionately affected by pollution, usually communities of color. Because it is a proposed constitutional amendment, the legislation will need to pass both legislative chambers before appearing as a ballot measure this November. Read more about the Maryland Environmental Human Rights Amendment here.

Senator Ben Allen: Cracking Down on Plastic Pollution

NewDEAL Leader California Ben Allen scored a victory for a cleaner environment, as Governor Gavin Newsom signed his bill to reduce plastic packaging and foodware last Thursday. Requiring a 25 percent reduction by both weight and number of items within the next 10 years, the bill is the toughest plastic reduction bill in the nation thus far. The bill also mandates a 65 percent recycling rate for plastics, requires all packaging and foodware be made recyclable or compostable even if not plastic, and requires plastic companies to contribute to a pollution mitigation fund to benefit disadvantaged or low-income communities. Read more in Grist about Senator Allen’s bill, which one expert says will prevent nearly 23 million tons of plastic waste in just 10 years.

Recycling Brownfields

Problem

Like many older industrial cities, Flint is left with contaminated and abandoned brownfield sites from old factories. These unused sites have been a major impediment to the redevelopment of Flint’s downtown area, negatively affecting the quality of life and economic value of surrounding communities. Unfortunately, the high costs of traditional remediation for such areas often prevent reuse.

Solution

Mayor Walling has proposed thinking about redevelopment in a new way — through the lens of recycling. In a pilot project utilizing this new paradigm, Flint is working to transform the site of a former Chevrolet plant, Chevy in the Hole, into Chevy Commons, a parkland along the Flint River with wetlands, woodlands, grasslands and other green areas. Thinking about “recycling” space means looking to reuse or renew, and requires making success out of failure and converting costs to revenues by finding alternative uses for waste products, working in alignment with natural processes, and serving the public in new ways.

Farmland Protection

Problem

Across the country, counties are losing millions of acres of farmland to urban sprawl each year, resulting in limited crop production and diminished economic growth for these communities who depend on farmland as a primary economic source.

Solution

In 2000, Senator Unger sponsored legislation that created the Voluntary Farmland Protection Act, authorizing county commissions to adopt and implement a farmland protection program and appointing a farmland protection board in order to voluntarily protect agricultural lands from overdevelopment. This act provides a unique opportunity for each participating county to design, implement, fund and administer a Farmland Protection Program that aligns with their particular county’s needs and goals, while outlining state-level guidelines as a resource. The protection of farmland through conservation easements provides many benefits for local communities; the ability to provide a local source of agricultural products; the enhancement of tourism; the preservation of historical and cultural resources; and providing open space for rapidly developing areas while protecting natural resources.

Sustainable Community Farming Initiative

Problem

So few people have access to — or enough income to afford — fresh, organic, local vegetables. Many children go hungry and don’t receive the sustenance they need to grow and excel in school. Additionally, the use of pesticides and hormones in subsidized agribusiness and the fossil fuels expended bringing those products to market are substantial. All of this means that the environmental costs of modern agriculture are enormous and people’s ability to acquire healthy foods is too costly to their economic well being and our environment.

Solution

Mayor Dan Drew is helping create a grassroots community farming co-op that will source fresh, local, organic vegetables for low prices on public land and make them available to the entire community. This initiative simultaneously combats climate change, pesticide and hormone use, while increasing sustainability and economic fairness.. The city of Middletown has already issued a call for proposals from farmers throughout the state for what they would grow and how they would price the associated co-op shares. The City will lease publicly-owned farmland to these farmers at a low rate to keep costs down. They will also appoint a grassroots community review board to review proposals and make recommendations about the most efficacious amongst them. This approach will ensure that a sense of market competition is brought into the proposal and pricing process and will give the people of the community the final word in what will be planted and harvested and how much it will cost. Middletown has also garnered interest from the local community college to partner in some type of conservation-related educational initiative related to the project. 

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