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Cool Cities Workshop Sierra Club – Maryland Chapter. Taking the Campaign to the Next Level Overcoming Hurdles Ann Elsen Elsen Energy Associates http://ElsenEnergy.com & David Hauck May 31, 2008. ElsenEnergy.com. Background Our Perspective.
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Cool Cities Workshop Sierra Club – Maryland Chapter Taking the Campaign to the Next Level Overcoming Hurdles Ann Elsen Elsen Energy Associates http://ElsenEnergy.com & David Hauck May 31, 2008 ElsenEnergy.com
BackgroundOur Perspective • Ann - Where Local Officials and Staff are Coming From • Examples from Personal Experience • Energy Planner – Montgomery County • State/Local & Public/Private Partnerships – Maryland Energy Administration • Outreach Coordinator – Prince George’s County Office of Energy Services • Director of the Maryland Center for Industrial Energy Efficiency • Executive Director – MDV-SEIA • David – Working with County/City Councils and Internal Champions ElsenEnergy.com
OverviewSome Common Hurdles • Delay – the temptation to wait until the inventory is complete, wait for stakeholders to reach consensus, wait for next budget cycle…forever • Funding – how to get it, how to start without it. • Institutional Memory – lack if it, both for the jurisdiction and the environmental advocate – do we need to repeat the process again? Elsen Energy Associates
Campaign DynamicsWho is the Audience? • Locating an internal champion • maintaining trust and support • Identifying decision makers • The champion doesn’t necessarily have authority • Identifying Key Problems • The discussion: This is the right thing to do. Got that. What else do you have? Elsen Energy Associates
Cool Cities Process - Momentum • Signing the Agreement is Step #1 – no time to catch your breath now • Next Hurdles – moving through inventory and participatory process to ACTUAL reductions (Ann) • Effectiveness of Legislation – Montgomery County example (David) Elsen Energy Associates
Pursuing Measures Rather than Process • Early action important because: • Renewable Energy • 3 years lead time for measures not unusual • Energy Efficiency • Cost of delay • Race to defer power plant/transmission approval • Solid Waste • Can be motivator for real economic change • Transportation • Road and land use projects happening now Elsen Energy Associates
Build Accountability Into Inventory • What is measured? (ex. kWh consumption, VMT, volume of refuse) • Who will measure it? • When will it be measured? Monthly? Annually? Other? • What is specific role of the Sierra Club? Who? When? • How do we define progress/achievement? Need quantifiable performance measures for reductions. • Differentiate emissions reductions from “process.” • A completed inventory or action plan is not a reduction. Elsen Energy Associates
Funding – the Continuous Hurdle • Not everything costs money – avoid pitfalls of expensive planning processes, target resources to measures • Many strategies save money – energy efficiency boosts the economy and reduces internal government utility budget, PAYT reduces MSW expenses • Securing a revenue stream Elsen Energy Associates
Who has done this before? • Local Officials don’t want to invent the wheel, or go first. • Provide examples of laws passed, measures implemented, and/or results from other cities experience • What are the basic elements of an action plan? Best practices? • Can we provide a menu of options from successes elsewhere? • Who are the keepers of institutional memory? • How will the Sierra Club maintain and pass on records of local efforts/progress/challenges? Elsen Energy Associates
“Action brings good fortune.” Elsen Energy Associates