MPC
Elmhurst is one of DuPage County's "Cool Cities"
On Thursday, Jan. 23 I attended the 2014 DuPage Energy Summit in Naperville, Ill. Presented by The Conservation Foundation and the DuPage Green Government Council, the summit provided an opportunity to learn about DuPage County’s commitment to the Cool Counties initiative and talk about energy efficiency.
The Cool Counties project was launched in 2007 by the Sierra Club and 12 counties and seeks to gather the resources of all 3,066 counties across the United States to address the challenges climate change poses to the nation’s communities. Counties that participate in the program commit to four actions:
- reducing their contributions to climate change
- demonstrating regional leadership to achieve climate stabilization
- helping communities become climate resilient
- urging national leadership to support their efforts
The summit took place in the Hotel Arista, which exemplifies the principles of the Cool Counties program. The Hotel Arista is the first LEED certified hotel in Illinois. As compared to most other hotels it uses 30 percent less water and 21 percent less energy. 50 percent of the construction waste was reused or recycled.
DuPage County feels being a “Cool County” is important for multiple reasons. For one, using less energy is a good economic choice since it reduces utility bills and provides insulation from price fluctuations. In addition, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), better air quality via lower greenhouse gases means more stable and predictable weather patterns with fewer extreme weather events. Air quality also affects quality of life for residents.
Two of the speakers, Mike Kolleng, manager of the Healthy Air Campaign for the American Lung Association, and Colin Wilkie, energy operations manager for the Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton, Ill., discussed the public health and economic benefits of reduced energy consumption. According to Mr. Kolleng, the keynote speaker, due to the Clean Air Act and its 1990 amendments, total air pollution has dropped by 59 percent since 1970. Good news, given that air pollution contributes to heart attacks, increased hospital and emergency room admissions and premature mortality. On the economic side, Mr. Wilkie urged schools to implement energy efficient programs, citing Wheaton as an example of the benefits. Since 2009, District 200’s total energy consumption has decreased by 25 percent, resulting in a $3.9 million savings to the district.
The DuPage Energy Summit not only taught me about the important reasons behind why we need to lessen our energy consumption and also the amazing things that are being done to achieve this goal, but reinforced the call that every step, no matter how small, can make a difference in combating climate change.