Energy / Springfield, Illinois: 2010 Smarter City - Energy

Illinois Capitol Building in Springfield Credit: Aka Keith/Flickr

While Chicago has received more coverage for its green roof effort and its climate action plan, the capital of Illinois is making steady progress in its own efforts to tackle global warming. With several city ordinances, Springfield, Illinois has directed the utility City Water, Light & Power (CWLP) to promote renewable energy and specifically wind power, expand energy-efficiency and demand-side management programs, reduce CO2 emissions from customers and further limit nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions from all power plants. Working with the Sierra Club, Springfield came up with a historic agreement to purchase close to 20% of its power (a total of 120 megawatts) from wind generation for a period of no less than 10 years.

Springfield has conducted a greenhouse gas inventory and is tracking city progress, which in the last five years has resulted in a 1.12% decrease in city energy consumption. With its tracking program, energy reduction policy, emissions inventory and green power investment, the city has been designated a 2010 Smarter City for energy. Having been recently awarded an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) to the amount of $1,225,600, the city is engaged in some intriguing new projects and studies.

The city is also using some of the EECBG funds for a study on “retro-commissioning” commercial and municipal buildings. Most buildings never have their HVAC and other electrical systems tested properly and as result they tend to function far below optimum levels, wasting energy and money in the process. Retro-commissioning involves testing and improving building systems and the current study should give a sense of just how much of an improvement the city is likely to see. Given the success already seen by the utility’s commercial lighting upgrade rebate which has seen business owners flock to gain improvements in efficiency, retro-commissioning could be an even greater boost to Springfield’s efforts to shrink its carbon footprint.