Current Initiatives
In April 2007 City Council passed a resolution committing to reduce the municipal carbon footprint 80% by the year 2050 and requiring a strategic plan to lead this effort. The internal SMP brings together the organization’s carbon footprint reduction policy and the sustainability initiatives of various departments in a coordinated and comprehensive plan. The outcome of this internal sustainability management plan is a consensus-based set of 23 sustainability goals, a comprehensive list of 107 prioritized action items, and an implementation plan for moving forward.
The full plan and the executive summary of the plan can be reviewed online at the following links:
Sustainability Management Plan
Executive Summary
Operational Sustainability
Program: The Sustainability Office in partnership with the Public Works Department is currently conducting a pilot project with alternative work schedules. All staff in the department except senior management are working 10 hours a day for 4 days a week instead of the traditional 5/8 schedule. This program was designed to produce 3 main results:
Reduce commute costs for employees while providing a competitive benefit at no cost to the City.
Reduce the departments commute carbon footprint to support the Cities 2% green house gas reduction goal.
Reduce the departments building carbon footprint while avoiding cost of electricity and natural gas.
Results: The alternative work schedule is still in the pilot phase during which we are tracking productivity, carbon footprint, avoided cost, and staff feedback. The Public Works department phased implementation of this pilot project by work crew from May 5th, 2008 through August 4, 2008. The Sustainability Office intends to have a comprehensive pilot project report by the end of the year. Preliminary findings are as follows:
We anticipate each employee avoiding the cost of $521 on fuel alone over the course of the year totaling $72,981 in full departmental cost avoidance.
We anticipate the avoidance of 249 tons of green house gas emissions annually.
There has been a 13% reduction in the Public Works building energy use and 6.3% in the Fleet Maintenance building energy use over the duration of the pilot project thus far. The total avoided cost on building energy has been $1665. We conclude that the work schedule and the employee conservation education program both contribute to this reduction in energy use.
Staff Energy Conservation Education
Program: The Sustainability Office launched a sustainability education program for staff in late June 2008. The program is called B.E.S.T. which stands for Better Energy Savings Today. This program has: distributed energy conservation educational materials throughout 23 city buildings, informed staff of alternative commuting options through internal newsletter articles, sent informational emails about simple ways to save energy around the office, and began the process of educating managers regarding sustainability leadership.
Results: The efforts of this campaign have contributed to a 1.2% total energy use reduction in the 18 participating facilities. An impressive energy use reduction among the 18 facilities is City Hall which has reduced energy use since the launch of the conservation campaign by 3%.
Making the commitment
The City of Asheville believes it is our responsibility to our community, businesses and taxpayers to strive for organizational efficiency through energy reduction measures. Because the threat of global warming needs local solutions, the City of Asheville formed a citizen group in January 2007 called the Sustainability Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment and City Council passed two sustainability resolutions in April 2007.
Goal: Reduce the municipal carbon footprint by 80% by 2050
Plan: Achieve a 2% reduction each year through conservation, technology and behavior change
Goal: Reduce the negative impact on the environment from municipal buildings
Plan: All new municipal buildings will be LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
The City of Asheville has gone one step further by joining commitments with hundreds of cities around the country and world when the mayor signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and became a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
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Contact Information
Public Works Department
Maggie Ullman, Energy Coordinator
Physical address: Public Works Building, 161 S. Charlotte Street
Mailing address: P. O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC 28802
Office: (828) 271-6141
E-mail: mullman@ashevillenc.gov