A Guide to Climate-Friendly Policies in Your Community

(This entire guide can also be downloaded in a printable form as the Cool New Jersey Handbook)

Introduction | Smart Growth and Planning | Alternative Energy | Bikeable and Walkable Communities
Resource Management and Waste | Transportation and Transit | Local Agriculture, Gardens, and Trees

 

Alternaitve Energy and Conservation

Energy management is a central part of a climate friendly municipal plan, and a good way for a municipality to effect an immediate and direct reduction in its climate impact. The state of New Jersey is a leader in the promotion of green energy. State incentives for residential solar and wind power are among the highest in the country. And New Jersey is a larger purchaser of green energy than any other US states. Local governments can follow this lead and promote even greater advances.

Rethinking the design and operation of our buildings must be central to any effort to ease our impact on the global climate. There are some eighty million residential buildings and 5 million commercial buildings across America. Heating and powering these buildings is responsible for about one-third of all the energy consumed in the country and a full two-thirds of all electricity consumption. Buildings are responsible for more than a third of all carbon dioxide emissions. Because nearly half the electricity in New Jersey is produced from fossil fuels, the climate impact of electricity use in the state is significant. Yet it is feasible, with no great additional cost, to build homes and businesses that use a fraction of the energy of the average building. In fact, building a home that produces enough energy to meet all its electricity and heating needs can add as little as five to ten percent to the total cost of the home.
As new constructions continue and our energy demands continue to grow, we must define a new course. Pursuing alternative energy sources is important; but conservation must be the center point of any sustainable energy policy. And, designing and building more efficient, climate friendly homes and businesses should be the hinge point of our conservation efforts.  As we continue to build in New Jersey, the challenge will be to build smart, using as little nonrenewable resources as possible and incorporating the best efficiency designs and technology available. In short, our current building practices cause us to squander our natural resources and produce far more climate changing emissions than is necessary. We can do better; and local municipalities can lead the way.

Chicago has committed to purchasing a full fifth of its energy from alternative sources, wind, solar or recaptured landfill gas. This will result in about 250,000 tons less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year.

 

 

 

The Borough of Highland Park used financial incentives from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to place a solar array on its municipal hall. A quarter of the building’s energy needs are now met by solar power.

 

 

Bronze

♦ Adopt high efficiency compact florescent lighting in municipal buildings.
Compact florescent lighting (CFL) uses about sixty percent less energy than a conventional incandescent bulb. This simple measure can reduce carbon emissions by more than a hundred pounds per year for each bulb.

♦ Upgrade traffic signals to high efficiency light emitting diodes.
LEDs are up to 90% more efficient and last much longer than incandescent bulbs. The payback period for a municipality can be as short as a few years.

♦ Establish property tax exemptions for increased value due to renewable energy systems.
The threat of increased property taxes can discourage a property owner from installing a solar array or wind turbines at their home, farm, or business. Ensuring that tax assessments do not increase as a result of alternative energy upgrades can remove this disincentive. Similarly, zoning restrictions that hinder the installation of alternative energy sources need to be removed.

♦ Support alternative sources in municipal electricity purchases.
The New Jersey office of Clean Energy’s Clean Power Choice Program allows ratepayers to choose to support alternative energy sources by choosing to purchase their electricity from clean sources. Four companies in the state provide green energy: Community Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Jersey-Atlantic Wind and Sterling Planet. By paying a premium on their current electric bill, energy customers can support these climate-friendly sources. Municipalities can promote this program by encouraging businesses and homeowners to consider participation and by participating in it themselves.

♦ Require that basic environmental features be a condition of transfer of property.
While such a policy would be impractical for advanced efficiency upgrades, basic environmental features, such as rain sensors on garden sprinklers, have been made a condition for the sale or transfer of property in some municipalities.

 

 

♦ Work to recruit local businesses into the federal Energy Starâ program.
The Energy Starâ program is a federally-backed program aimed at helping individuals and businesses adopt energy efficient products and practices. The program provides guidelines, tools, and resources for energy efficiency measures that are not only good for the environment but make good business sense. Municipalities can work with businesses to promote participation and provide incentives for energy efficiency.

♦ Adopt green practices and materials in municipal buildings.
The US Green Building Council has established a rating system for energy efficiency and green design in commercial and residential construction. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards define four levels of certification: basic LEED certification, silver level, gold level, and platinum level. LEED standards can be applied to any building type, and incorporate consideration of building materials, energy efficiency, site location, interior air quality, construction waste, and other factors. Six specific LEED programs exist: new commercial constructions, existing building and operations, commercial interiors, core and shell development, homes, and neighborhood development. Many states and municipalities have found these established criteria helpful in the formulation of policy. In New Jersey, Governor McGreevy signed an executive order requiring all new school designs to incorporate LEED guidelines. Several state municipalities have set a minimum level of certification for new constructions or renovations. A good start might be requiring that all new municipally owned buildings achieve basic LEED certification. A higher level of certification can be set for schools, municipal facilities, and other new buildings as the program develops.

 

Cranford Township’s Green Building Density Incentive Program allows developers incentives such as an increase in allowable building size when the building receives LEED certification.

 

♦ Promote the use of green building practices by local businesses.
Municipalities can help promote the use of energy-efficient techniques and technologies by property owners by covering the costs of LEED project submissions for small businesses.

♦ Conduct an assessment of existing buildings for inefficient equipment and practices.
Often, small modifications in practices or equipment can reap major conservation rewards. These low hanging fruit, such as changing to compact florescent light bulbs, putting sensors on lighting in lesser-used rooms, or setting computers for sleep mode after a shorter period of nonuse can often reduce a municipality’s energy use by ten to twenty percent literally overnight.

♦ Set clear energy efficiency obligations for all municipal offices.
A municipal energy audit is only useful if clear and unambiguous targets are set to guide action once the evaluation period is complete. For example, municipal offices can be instructed to implement any energy efficiency practice with a set payback period. An aggressive policy would set a payback period at ten years or more. A more modest policy might set a payback requirement at five years.

 

New Jersey has about .1 percent of the world’s population; but produces .5 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, with about three percent of the US population, New Jersey produces only about two percent of the US emissions. This makes us heavy polluters by world standards’ but modest polluters when compared to most other Americans.

        

 

        Silver   

♦ Provide rebates or tax credits for high efficiency appliances.
Municipalities can help encourage replacement of old, inefficient appliances with new, high-efficiency or Energy Star models by subsidizing a portion of the purchase cost and making state and federal incentives more widely known.

♦ Develop a green products store and library on line to encourage green purchasing.
Often, the principal barriers to the adoption of green techniques and products are ignorance and lack of local availability. Municipalities can help address both these barriers. City or town offices can produce an on-line information source on local resources and energy efficient alternatives and promote its use, they can use their purchasing power to make climate friendly alternatives available at a lower cost, and they can develop public-private partnerships to ensure availability of green products to the local area.

♦ Train municipal managers in green building techniques.
Green building training is available through several sources and can be made obligatory for appropriate managers and operations staff. The New Jersey chapter of the US Green Building Council, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESA), and the Rutgers University Center for Green Building, can all help identify training opportunities.

♦ Require all occupied Municipal buildings to achieve LEED certification.
LEED certification need not apply only to new constructions. The Green Building Council has developed standards for existing buildings, LEED-EB. These standards can be used to establish a clear target for all municipal buildings. An aggressive policy could require Silver level certification; a more modest policy might require only basic certification.
Once an obligatory LEED certification level or incentive structure is in place, the level of required LEED certification can be increased as builders and municipal managers adapt to the new requirements and develop expertise in green construction.

♦ Promote commercial use of green techniques and materials.
Education programs, material, guidelines and training are a key part of a municipal green building effort. Financial incentives, such as tax credits and rebates, or zoning incentives, are also vital. A principle disincentive of LEED certification is the upfront costs of the process. This can be partially or wholly offset by municipal incentives and cost sharing.

♦ Establish accelerated municipal review, inspection and approval procedures for buildings that adopt green technologies.
A significant incentive for the adoption of climate friendly practices can be defined by offering accelerated or facilitated approval and inspection procedures for new constructions, renovations, or repairs that achieve a set LEED certification or adopt other climate friendly practices.

♦ Require all new commercial construction in the municipality to achieve LEED certification.
The Green Building Council has established criteria for commercial interiors as well. So, interior renovations of existing structures can also be required to meet set requirements.

♦ Establish incentives for green building practices in home building.
The Green Building Council has recently established criteria for certification of private homes, LEED-H. A certified home can command more value on the market, be significantly less expensive to run, and set an important example other homeowners. Homeowners can be encouraged to pursue LEED certification through education and facilitate approval process.

 

Scottsdale, Arizona, was the first US municipality to require all new city buildings to meet LEED Gold or Platinum standards. The standard can also be applied to existing buildings and is estimated to add roughly two percent to total cost.

 

♦ Require energy efficient roof on municipal buildings.
Building roofs are central to the energy efficiency of the structure. All municipal roof replacement projects that are not vegetated, or green roofs, can be required to be high reflectance, Energy StarTM-rated.

♦ Facilitate free or low cost energy inspection of homes and businesses.
Municipalities can offer this service directly or contract these services with a private agency. These services can go far beyond a simple discussion of lighting options; homes and businesses can be tested for air tightness with a door blower and heat and cooling leaks can be identified with infrared equipment.

 

Boulder, Colorado, requires that builders score at least twenty points among several environmental categories to gain a permit. Point values are defined for an array of sustainable design features. Incorporating built-in recycling boxes in a residential design, for example, earns the builder two points.

 

 

 

 

♦ Develop and support professional green building associations.
Environmentally focused design and building associations can provide consultation and information to the public on energy-efficient building design, assist developers in the cost-effective integration of green technology in new buildings, and help with grant and rebate applications. Larger municipalities can work with professional associations to help develop resources, training, and support programs in the area.

♦ Adopt a solar access ordinance.
Solar access ordinances limit the amount of permitted shading by new building and mandates good solar access for buildings. These policies can help promote the use of solar power and daylighting, and they leave the door open for the expanded use of solar power in the future. Planed use, latitude, vegetation, and other variables need to be taken into account.

 

The New Jersey Green Homes Office works to educate and provide technical assistance to for profit and non-profit developers, architects, government agencies, community development groups and members of the construction industry on the use of green building techniques in New Jersey.

 

The New Jersey home to the left achieves more than seventy percent of its heating needs from passive solar energy, the remainder is produced by a geothermal heat pump; and the solar array on the roof provides all the home’s electrical needs. Combining wind and solar to the right can significantly reduce a home’s climate footprint.

Santa Monica's Green Building Construction & Design Standards require all hotels, commercial, institutional, and small industrial buildings to beat California state energy efficiency requirements by fifteen percent.  Residential buildings and retail buildings must meet a ten percent threshold. To help builders achieve these standards, the city developed green building and design guidelines and offers grants and other incentives for the use of green building practices. The city partnered with a private organization to create a Green Building Resource Center, offering workshops, sample materials, and design ideas.

 

 

Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) are tradable certificates generated by the state of New Jersey for every kilowatt of energy produced through solar power. So, a photovoltaic system can actually generate a regular source of income for a home or municipality.

 

 

 

 

Gold

♦ Weatherize homes for elderly and low-income residents at no or low cost.
This serves the multiple purpose of protecting low-income residents from high energy cost and price fluctuations, ensuring a safe and comfortable home for a community’s vulnerable citizens during cold months, and helping to reduce the community’s climate impact.

♦ Require LEED silver certification for all new construction in municipality.
Raising a municipality’s obligatory LEED certification level can help ensure continued progress toward the leading edge of climate-friendly communities.

♦ Utilize municipal purchasing power to encourage the purchase of energy efficient appliances and materials.
Local authorities can purchase energy efficient appliances (from insulating blankets for water heaters, to water saving toilet kits, to compact florescent light bulbs) at a volume discount and make them available to residents through a municipal website, at local events, or even through local merchants

 

In 2005, Suffolk County, New York, enacted laws requiring the county government to purchase five percent of its electricity through renewable sources (the Long Island Power Authority’s Green Choice Program), provided that the total additional costs do not exceed $100,000 per year compared to the cost of conventional electricity. The county must also purchase at least 25% of the energy for all county-run buildings from renewable sources by 2010, up to an additional cost of $500,000.

 

♦ Municipal grants and tax credits for adopting green practices in home remodeling.
These can include incentives for use of high efficiency or energy star qualified appliances or for use of materials with low embodied energy.  A more ambitious program would reward LEED certification of existing homes (LEED-H certification). These homeowners might be encouraged to offer open house tours for interested community members in exchange for municipal assistance with their climate-friendly remodeling.

♦ Develop a municipal office to provide professional assistance and consultation on the integration of green technologies.
In larger municipalities, an office for green design and building can catalyze and guide green development in new and existing buildings. A municipal office can promote climate friendly alternatives, establish clear guidelines for green building and development, encourage climate friendly materials, and educate building and design professionals, ensuring them that utilizing green practices and materials will not impede construction or profitability.

♦ Establish an energy manager position.
An office of municipal energy manager can define and facilitate climate friendly reforms and practices in public works, municipal facilities, and schools. The energy savings can offset the cost of the new office.

♦ Establish a working group on energy efficiency.
Representatives from city hall, public works, local utilities, schools, library, and other relevant agencies can be brought together to help set targets and define and monitor energy alternatives for the municipality.

♦ Establish a single office or nonprofit organization responsible for managing climate-friendly initiatives.
A single office can ensure responsibility and accountability for comprehensive climate-friendly planning and management. To ensure that this office does not become marginalized in the face of other policy priorities, a governing committee might be established including members of the city council and representatives of the city planner and mayor’s office.

♦ Increase LEED targets for new municipal buildings.
Innovative municipal buildings, meeting gold or platinum LEED design standards, not only reduce the municipality’s climate impact, they can serve as inspirational models for private construction.

♦ Pursue and support alternative micro energy generation.
There are multiple ways a municipality may be able to capture waste energy to produce electricity or heat. For example, fuel cells can generate electricity by harvesting the waste biogas from water treatment. By capturing the methane from wastewater treatment or landfills it is now possible to generate enough clean energy to offset much if not all the energy needs of a water facility.
Small wind turbines can be mounted in areas with regular winds and at least thirty feet of clearance over treetops and structures. Even a small turbine can generate enough wind to offset the energy use of a medium sized building.
Combined heat and Power programs captures waste heat for power generation. Incentives offered by the New Jersey Clean Energy Program make CHP initiatives even more appealing.

 

A methane recovery pump project in Keene, New Hampshire cost the city about $280,000 and is estimated to have a payback period of about five years. After that, the city will reap about $55,000 in profits annually.

 

The City of Brockton, Massachusetts has begun construction on New England’s largest solar array. Build on a 27 care reclaimed brownfield, the array will include more than six thousand solar panels that produce more than 535 megawatts of electricity. This will prevent almost three hundred tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere annually.