I was in Roanoke for a couple of days attending a conference conducted by the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition (RVCCC). A lot can be learned from this group who in just 2 short years has signed up Roanoke County and the Cities of Roanoke and Salem onto either ICLEI, Cool Cities, or the US Mayor's Agreement. Each jurisdiction has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, to demonstrate regional leadership, to help their community become climate resilient and to urge federal government to support their efforts.
The next step is measuring their baseline emissions, which the City of Roanoke has already done. Following that, cities then set an emissions target which could be as simple as the Sierra Club's Virginia Citizens Energy Plan stipulates to reducing 2% per year through 2050. To this point, Roanoke matches Arlington's efforts. Next step is to create a plan to meet target, with strong community involvement, and to implement the plan as Arlington has already.
Already the City of Roanoke is realizing big savings. Here are just some of the results as presented by Ken Cronin, Director of General Services, at last month's VML "Go Green Virginia" forum in Virginia Beach:
a. By replacing the lighting fixtures (T12s for T8s) in all city buildings, Roanoke reduced its energy use by 1,696,925 kWh and prevented 1,575 tons of carbon emissions
b. By installing LED traffic lights through the city, their energy use was reduced by 1,447,785 kWh with 1,344 tons of carbon emissions prevented
c. By even just installing Energy Star equipment for exit signs and vending machines, they reduced their energy needs by 84,513 kWh with a savings of 78 tons of carbon emissions.
The Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition consists of over 100 businesses, organizations and individuals who taken together represent over 15,000 of Roanoke's area citizens. The conference, attended by congressional candidate Sam Rasoul, and representatives for Rep. Bob Goodlatte and State Senator Ralph Smith, featured speakers from several of the area's businesses who presented a strong business case for going green. You can read all about the event here at the Roanoke Times.
In the region, Roanoke Cement, in addition to its own facility improvements, is planning to defray the cost [to the tune of a $12,000 grant!] of several local governments measuring and studying their greenhouse gas footprint. Hollins University, with a carbon footprint of 18,086 tons during the 2006-07 year, plans by next year to chart a course to become carbon neutral. Breakell Inc. general contractors in Roanoke, with a carbon footprint of 141 tons, is using high-efficiency vehicles and lending support to the wider cause."I can make a pretty powerful business case for green," said Stan Breakell, the company's president and a coalition board member.
One of several other things that I took away from the conference as most impressive was how folks in the area can go to their website (www.rvccc.org) and measure their carbon footprint. Unlike such measurements offered at other more national websites, this site offers multipliers that apply to Roanoke and the fact that approximately 85% of their electricity comes from dirty coal fired power plants. (We "lucky ducks" in Virginia Beach meanwhile get our power from a more mixed source which includes nuclear. Goody!)
They figure that the average homeowner in Roanoke "contributes" about 42,000 tons of harmful greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere per year. Now if this fact causes you to lose sleep at night, RVCCC offers you the opportunity to offset your carbon emissions. They estimate that 42,000 tons to translate to a $150 donation which the RVCCC uses to purchase compact fluorescent bulbs which they in turn give away to needy families. This is nothing but "win/win" as many folks are not likely to be able to afford CFLs and they also benefit from the savings generated by not having to repeatedly purchase regular light bulbs. Plans are also in the works with RVCCC to also use carbon offset donations to purchase trees in hopes of reforesting various areas.
As Diana Christopulos, chair of the RVCCC board pointed out, "We are not saving the planet. We are saving ourselves." Congrats, Diana and the RVCCC on a job well done! As both Arlington and Roanoke illustrate, this is the way we do things in Virginia. Let's jump in there too, Hampton Roads.