2020_0511_CCPacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: May 11, 2020 7.c Item No.: Department Approval City Manager Approval Item Description: Update on Sustainability Efforts 1 B ACKGROUND 2 The City of Roseville has long investigated and pursued energy saving and sustainable efforts in City 3 operations while also promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship throughout the City. 4 Efforts towards sustainable practices and reducing the City’s carbon footprint and greenhouse gas 5 emissions began in earnest with the installation of a geothermal system in 2008 for the indoor ice 6 arena. Efforts expanded with participation in the GreenStep Cities Program. The City is currently at 7 Step 3 and expects to graduate to Step 4 this year. 8 In 2019, the City installed solar panels on City Hall, the Maintenance Facility and the Fire Station. 9 The City also subscribed to two large Community Solar Gardens. With these efforts, the City is well 10 on the way to using renewable energy sources for over 50% of the total electrical energy 11 consumption on the three facilities listed above. 12 There is clearly a desire to continue to expand our efforts on sustainability and to promote, educate 13 and provide opportunities for sustainability for our residents and businesses within the City. To that 14 point, the City’s recently adopted Comprehensive Plan sets goals to reduce community-wide 15 greenhouse emissions by 80 percent from 2005 levels by 2050. 16 The Public Works, Environment and Transportation (PWET) Commission has been taking input 17 from members of the public and has received several presentations recently about sustainability 18 efforts. The City has been active in seeking assistance from several resources including Xcel 19 Energy, the Minnesota GreenCorps program, Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTS), and other 20 agencies in order to develop our next steps towards achieving our goals. 21 Staff will be providing an update on these efforts including the recent designation as host site for a 22 GreenCorps member. Staff is asking the Council to provide feedback to help guide staff and the 23 PWET Commission on their efforts over the next several months. 24 F INANCIAL I MPACTS 25 There are no currently identified costs to the City for any of the efforts underway or discussed. There 26 may be some support costs for the GreenCorps member that will be working with the City, but any 27 costs should be able to be absorbed through the existing budget. Future efforts, such as expanding 28 on the Energy Action Plan or implementing elements of a benchmarking system, may have some 29 costs that staff will bring to the Council for consideration as those efforts are recommended for 30 implementation. 31 S TAFF R ECOMMENDATION 32 Receive presentation on sustainability efforts within the City of Roseville and provide staff with Page 1 of 2