It's a start. The city of Chicago is pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Mayor Richard Daley has authorized retrofitting of low-income housing for energy efficiency, retooling of building codes, and large installations of solar panels on public property.
This is good. Very good. But perhaps the most impressive thing is that the Union of Concerned Scientists called it the most quantitative and robust plan for reducing greenhouse emissions in any US city.
I generally trust UCS to do thorough research and planning on whatever they projects they undertake, so I'm pretty excited about this.
Look, I know California has promised huge cuts in emissions by 2050, and I think they (we, I live there) can get there. But Apart from CA's low-carbon fuel plan, I haven't seen any detailed work towards this goal yet. Other states have similar plans, but as far as I know -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- they're equally nebulous right now.
And 2020 ain't far off. In five years Chicago should be able to show major signs of achievement.
This is pretty encouraging -- let's just keeping checking in to make sure the politicians stick to the program.
(image: www.isbor.org)
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