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City adopts Climate Action Plan
The Denver Business Journal
October 24, 2006
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper adopted the city council's Climate Action Plan for making the metro area more sustainable on Wednesday.
He also signed Executive Order 123, which formally establishes the city's sustainability policy.
"The Climate Action Plan will guide Denver's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while creating jobs and improving public health," Hickenlooper said in a statement. "We commend the Greenprint Advisory Council for its innovative and collaborative approach in developing the plan, and we thank them for their tireless efforts to promote sustainability in our community."
Created in July 2006, Greenprint Denver is the city's plan for becoming more sustainable. The 33-person Greenprint Advisory Council was established at the same time.
The council has studied markets across the country for the last year to come up with the best ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Denver. It released a draft of recommendations to the public in May.
In yet another recent "green" milestone, the mayor revealed that the city's Wellington E. Webb municipal office building in downtown Denver has received a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and is one of the USGB's highest sustainability ratings.
The mayor hailed the designation as "a tremendous honor for the city ... that recognizes our collective commitment to sustainability."
"Our goal is to maintain all of our city facilities in an energy efficient and sustainable manner," Kevin Patterson, manager of general services for the City and County of Denver, said in a statement. "Sustainability is not just a buzzword; it is an integral part of our decision-making process."
The Denver Business Journal reported the Webb building's LEED Gold certification the week of Oct. 19, in a story about the new 20/20 Lawrence condo project being developed in downtown Denver.
The Climate Action Plan, completed in May, offers 10 recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Those recommendations include:
- Develop business and residential outreach campaigns to conserve energy, buy renewable energy and support public transportation.
- With voter approval, conserve energy by applying a tiered rate structure to the use of electrical and natural gas. Tiered rates would impose a premium charge for excessive energy use.
- Voluntary, small fee attached to airline ticket purchases and motor vehicle registrations to offset travel-related carbon emissions.
- Make city buildings, including Denver International Airport, and vehicles more energy-efficient.
- Expand recycling initiatives in Denver.
- Adopt mandatory energy-efficient building codes for new homes, home remodeling and commercial structures.
- Improve energy efficiency in older housing.
- Require use of "green" concrete, which includes fly ash, in all public and private construction projects.
- Support the Denver Regional Council of Governments' (DRCOG) existing growth boundaries, and additional population growth around transit developments.
- Develop city policies to promote use of public transportation and vehicles that use alternative fuels.
Greenhouse gases are atmospheric components -- including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone -- that keep the Earth's environment livable. An increase in greenhouse gases, both natural and manmade, in recent years has contributed to global warming.
Article URL: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2007/10/22/daily36.html
