From a
press release issued by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz:
Madison - Mpower partners have set an aggressive goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Madison area. Under the cooperative private-public-not-for-profit "100K Clean Energy Challenge," the City of Madison and its initial partners - Madison Gas and Electric (MGE), University of Wisconsin, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Dane County United, Citizens Utility Board, RENEW Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin, Sierra Club, Madison Area Clean Energy Coalition, and Sustain Dane - will seek to reduce citywide emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 100,000 tons by 2011.
The campaign was launched this week and includes a web site www.mpoweringmadison.com. Business and residents can go to this web site and sign-up and commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Global climate change affects all of us, and it is up to all of us to do our part to address this issue," said Mayor Cieslewicz. "This partnership will help make Madison a leader in showing how local communities can lead the way forward in protecting our environment for future generations."
The City of Madison component of the 100K Clean Energy Challenge calls for city government to reduce its CO2 "footprint" by 25% by 2011, to eliminate 15,000 tons of CO2, through the following strategies:
· Increase the energy efficiency of city facilities, reducing natural gas and electricity consumption. The city is actively implementing green building and energy efficiency practices, and recently created a new Facilities and Sustainability position to focus solely on this issue.
· Purchase more energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar and install renewable energy systems on city properties.
· Increase fuel efficiency and biofuels in the city's fleet of vehicles. The city is already pursuing this goal through establishing fuel-efficiency standards, the use of hybrid diesel-electric buses, as well as experimentation with biodiesel fuels.
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