Mayors Take the Lead

One of the easiest measures is also one of the most cost effective. That's converting stoplights from incandescent bulbs to LEDs. On the downside, the conversion demands a major investment upfront. "When I found out the cost, it scared me," says Cluck in Arlington, Texas, noting that the new lights will cost his city $1.35 million. But since LEDs use 80 percent less energy than standard lights—and last six to 10 times longer—they pay for themselves in several years. After that, cities reap the savings. For Arlington, that's a projected windfall of more than $250,000 a year. In a larger city like New York, it's even more. The Big Apple—which has replaced 80,000 incandescent bulbs in 12,000 intersections—will realize savings of $6.3 million a year once the initial investment of $28 million is paid off.

There are dozens of other ways for a city government to cut its power use. Buildings themselves can be made more energy efficient with good insulation, tight ducts and efficient air-conditioning systems. "In cities, buildings account for 50 to 70 percent of energy consumption and, therefore, greenhouse-gas emissions," says Rob Pratt, head of the climate-change initiative at the Henry P. Kendall Foundation in Boston. Many municipalities now require that new government buildings meet the certification standards of the U.S. Green Building Council.

But to achieve ambitious energy-reduction targets, a city needs to get private developers and citizens onboard, too. One of the best examples is Austin, Texas, home to the nation's first green building program. A major citywide energy-conservation program in the 1990s allowed the city-owned utility to avoid construction of a new 500-megawatt power plant that would have been needed by 2000. Now Mayor Will Wynn has an even more ambitious program: to make all new homes in Austin "zero-energy-capable" by 2015. That means they will draw 65 percent less energy than a new home built today—so little that the rest of their energy needs could be supplied by solar panels on the roof, if the homeowners installed them. "Houses like this are possible today," says Roger Duncan, deputy general manager of Austin Energy. But they require every energy-saving trick in the green builder's book.

The city of Cambridge is hoping for a more immediate impact with a sweeping $100 million initiative announced two weeks ago to cut the energy consumption of every neighborhood in town—municipal, university, commercial and residential alike. "Energy audits" of buildings will be provided free to those who want them, along with recommendations on how to cut energy use. To help owners make the suggested upgrades, low- or zero-interest loans will be available, to be repaid as savings accrue from the new efficiencies. Realistically, the organizers hope for a 50 percent participation rate, which would cut emissions an estimated 10 percent by 2012. The same program will soon roll out in Boston and four other Massachusetts cities.

Transportation

After buildings and lighting, the next obvious issue for a city to address is motor vehicles. As their fleets age, many towns are gradually converting their cars, garbage trucks, salt spreaders, tow trucks and fire engines to hybrids or alternative-fuel vehicles that use ethanol, compressed natural gas or biodiesel. In San Francisco, officials are going the extra mile, so to speak, and will soon use recaptured fat, oil and grease from restaurants to make biodiesel fuel for the city's garbage trucks. These fleet upgrades "aren't quite as cost effective as lighting changes," says Garrett Fitzgerald, director of programs at ICLEI. "But they're simple to do, and they provide a great opportunity to reduce emissions."