Action 2 -
Make no/low cost indoor lighting and operational changes in city-owned/school buildings to reduce energy costs.
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Buildings and Lighting
1 . Efficient Existing Public Buildings:
Benchmark energy and water usage, identify savings opportunities in consultation with state programs, utilities and others to implement cost-effective energy and sustainability improvements.
Action 3 -
Invest in larger energy efficiency projects through performance contracting or other funding or through smaller retro-commissioning/retrofit projects in city-owned/school buildings.
Action 6 -
Improve the operations & maintenance of city-owned/school buildings and leased buildings by using a customized online energy efficiency tool, asset management tool, green building framework or green lease.
3 . New Green Buildings:
Construct new buildings to meet or qualify under a green building framework.
Action 2 -
Work with the local school district to ensure that future new schools are built using the SB 2030 energy standard and/or a green building framework.
5 . Building Redevelopment:
Create economic and regulatory incentives for redevelopment and repurposing of existing buildings.
Action 3 -
Plan for reuse of large-format retail buildings, or work with a local school, church or commercial building to either add-on space or repurpose space into new uses.
Land Use
8 . Mixed Uses:
Develop efficient land patterns that generate community health and wealth.
Action 1 -
Organize or participate in a community planning/placemaking/design process for the city/a mixed-use district, including specific community engagement practices that engage cultural and income diverse community members.
Action 2 -
Locate or lease a property for use as a school, city building or other government facility that has at least two of these attributes:
Transportation
12 . Mobility Options:
Increase active transportation and alternatives to single-occupancy car travel.
Action 1 -
Increase walking, biking and transit use by one or more of the following means:
Action 2 -
Conduct an Active Living campaign such as a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program.
Action 4 -
Promote carpooling, ridesharing, carsharing, and bikesharing.
13 . Efficient City Fleets:
Implement a city fleet investment, operations and maintenance plan.
Action 3 -
Phase-in operational changes, equipment changes including electric vehicles, and no-idling practices for city or local transit fleets.
Action 5 -
Document that the local school bus fleet has optimized routes, start times, boundaries, vehicle efficiency and fuels, driver actions to cut costs including idling reduction, and shifting students from the bus to walking, biking and city transit.
Environmental Management
22 . Sustainable Consumption and Waste:
Increase waste prevention, reuse and recycling, moving to a lower-consumption, more cyclical, biological approach to materials management.
Action 1 -
Improve city operations and procurement to prevent and reuse, recycle and compost waste from all public facilities (including libraries, parks, schools, municipal health care facilities), and minimize use of toxics and generation of hazardous waste.
23 . Local Air Quality:
Prevent generation of local air contaminants so as to improve community health.
Action 3 -
Decrease air emissions from vehicle idling, gasoline filling stations, business trucking, and pollutants/noise from stationary engines/back-up generators.
Action 5 -
Install, assist with and promote publicly available EV charging stations or public fueling stations for alternative fuel vehicles.
Resilient Economic and Community Development
24 . Benchmarks and Community Engagement:
Adopt outcome measures for GreenStep and other city sustainability efforts, and engage community members in ongoing education, dialogue, and campaigns.
Action 4 -
Public Education for Action: Conduct or support a broad sustainability education and action campaign, building on existing community relationships, networks & events involving:
Action 5 -
Planning with a Purpose: Conduct a community visioning and planning initiative that engages a diverse set of community members & stakeholders and uses a sustainability, resilience, or environmental justice framework such as:
Action 6 -
Engaging the Next Generation: Engage wide representation of community youth and college students by creating opportunities to participate in city government (including commissions).
26 . Renewable Energy:
Remove barriers to and encourage installation of renewable energy generation capacity.
Action 5 -
Install a public sector/municipally-owned renewable energy technology, such as solar electric (PV), wind, biomass, solar hot water/air, or micro-hydro.
27 . Local Food:
Strengthen local food production and access.
Action 3 -
Create, assist with and promote local food production/distribution within the city:
Action 4 -
Measurably increase institutional buying and sales of foods and fibers that are local, Minnesota-grown, organic, healthy, humanely raised, and grown by fairly compensated growers.