Energy / Chicago, Illinois: 2010 Smarter City - Energy

One of Chicago’s top priorities is making its buildings, already known for their architectural history, known for their energy efficiency. In Chicago, buildings account for 70 percent of the city’s total emissions of heat-trapping pollutants, so retrofitting its fine old construction is a fundamental part of the plan. For starters, the city’s public building projects must meet LEED Silver status, and in the private sector, an updated building code requires increased energy efficiency in all structures while advantaging environmentally responsible projects. The city’s Chicago Retrofit Steering Committee is charged with the task of updating buildings across the residential, commercial and industrial sectors, and Chicago is the undisputed leader in LEED-certified buildings, with 134 buildings (second-place Portland, Oregon has 94).

A number of incentives are in place to promote energy conservation among citizens, but perhaps Chicago’s most notable campaign is the Green Office Challenge. This program motivates property owners and tenant companies in the Central Business District to reduce their environmental impact, based solely on a highly publicized friendly competition, mayoral and media attention to the leaders, and the co-benefit of reducing costs. And it appears to be working: In the first round of the challenge, with more than 150 participants, Chicago offices were able to save 72 million kilowatts of electricity (enough to power 42,000 homes), and 54 metric tons of carbon dioxide (the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off Chicago’s roads), based on tracking done by the competitors themselves.

Chicago has hired dozens of experts to determine the viability of its proposals, and it therefore has clear priorities and goals within unambiguous limitations. For example, although a working group for the CCAP determined that the city “lacks direct or indirect leverage to improve power plant efficiencies,” it was able to provide grants to several public and private projects to install ground source heat pumps to encourage distributed generation. This sort of approach helps to advance a smarter power grid that provides energy to residents and businesses through a local source rather than through power plants. In particular, this use of distributed generation was a criterion that Smarter Cities gave high marks for.

The CCAP even plans the energy adaptations necessary to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Among these plans is a commitment to the energy-efficient insulators known as green roofs. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was a pioneer leader in the U.S. for these vegetated rooftops, and sure enough, the city has planned or completed more than 4 million square feet of green rooftop space since the CCAP proposed more of them in 2008. The city uses infrared satellite imagery to determine its hottest spots for priority conversion to green roofs.

Such intense research benefits all American cities. It reiterates simple notions, like the circularity of environmental practices, emphasizing that to conserve water is to conserve energy. (The CCAP quotes the U.S. EPA to say that running a faucet for five minutes uses about as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours!) Recycling not only reduces waste and conserves materials; it also conserves energy because with most things, it is more efficient to recycle than to dig up, cut down or ship in new materials. Chicago’s very comprehensive plan is a reminder that the Smarter Cities criteria do not stand alone but rather work together.