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Small but mighty: How three small cities are saving energy and embracing renewables
(ACEEE blog, 12 Feb 2021) Leading small U.S. cities—like San Luis Obispo in California, St. Louis Park in Minnesota, and Rockville in Maryland—are showing how fellow municipalities across the country can take significant steps to cut energy waste and embrace clean energy.
These three ranked among the top scorers in ACEEE's recent analysis of efforts by 30 small U.S. cities to advance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and equity in planning and program delivery. As part of the Sustainable States Community Energy Challenge and with support from the New York Community Trust, we found that while all participating cities are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some are exceeding the efforts of even many of their larger peers.
To see how small cities can lead on climate, let’s take a closer look at how three of the top performers in this group earned their high scores and cut emissions.
San Luis Obispo, California, secured the highest score across all cities, thanks in part to its strong policies to reduce energy use in buildings. The city recently adopted a program to encourage all-electric new construction; it requires that builders either go all-electric or adopt a series of stringent efficiency measures (local amendments to the 2019 California Energy Code) and pre-wire buildings to be ready for future electrification of gas equipment. The city supports building owners and developers with technical guidance to meet the requirements and financial incentives.
ACEEE blog, 12 Feb 2021: Small but mighty: How three small cities are saving energy and embracing renewables
