Every organization has an important choice to make this year, and every year: Will they use renewable electricity……..or not? This is certainly one of their most important decisions of the year in terms of environmental impact, determining how much CO2 is added to the atmosphere that contributes to climate change. The cost to use 100% zero carbon renewable electricity can be less than 1% of their electric bill. Which choice will they make?
Many of our community organizations have chosen to use renewable electricity and thereby reduce their CO2 emissions. Examples include City of Evanston (79%), Northwestern University (39%), and Sunset Ridge School (100%). They join many larger companies and cities that voluntarily chose to use renewable electricity and thereby removed a combined 100 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere in 2017. These voluntary efforts are increasingly important for addressing climate change in light of the absence of federal policies. Yet, many of our community organizations are making the choice by default – continuing to use fossil fuel electricity year after year as they focus on other more immediate priorities.
Given that these choices are vitally important but not always visible, I plan to do some research to determine what choices are made by our leading community organizations in 2018. Specifically, I plan to use public information and a simple email questionnaire over the next 3 months to clarify the renewable energy use for each of the 10 largest employers in most of the municipalities that have adopted the Greenest Region Compact. The data I will gather will be very simple: Does the organization plan to use ANY renewable electricity in 2018 (incremental to that which is added under the Illinois’ Renewable Portfolio Standard), and if so, will they choose to use renewable electricity equal to 100% of their consumption. In other words, which milestone have they reached on the path to zero carbon electricity use: have they taken the first step? The last step?
I hope to collaborate as much as possible with municipalities and local green groups as I work through this project. In advance, I would welcome input and involvement on the best way to approach the 10 local organizations. You can email me directly at Bill.hayes at cleanpathpartners.com or phone at (224) 216-7632.
After the data is compiled, it can be used to identify and positively recognize those organizations that take steps to use renewable electricity and as a basic metric for municipalities to measure progress in their Greenest Region Compact commitments. This project is about more than simply collecting data about renewable energy use, since the process of collecting and presenting the data can change some decisions. Collecting the data from each organization will naturally include two messages: 1.) that their decision is of vital community interest because it determines whether they are one of the largest contributors to climate change in their community; and 2.) clarification about the 3 straightforward ways that they can increase their use of renewable energy. My hope is that the visibility around this decision, combined with some information about the ease of using renewable energy, can tilt the cost/benefit analysis in favor of the environment for more community organizations.
I look forward to collaborating with each of you on this project. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or want to help.
