CitiesGoGreen - January 2009 - (Page 17) Chicago’s Green Office Challenge Chicago and ICLEI are partnering to create a new kind of green office incentive program. They hope to involve the tenants and owners of 9,000 buildings by 2020. Daley and media partners will acknowl- building managers, managers are urged edge participants from the beginning to engage a base goal of 25% to a stretch and highlight successes along the way. goal of 50% of their tenants, convincing “It is important to note that this is not “It is important to note that this is not a a certification program, not like LEED certification program, not like LEED or Energy Star. or Energy Star. It is It is a recognition program.” — Malick a recognition program,” Malick said. She and other ICLEI staff members said they talk with cities all them to sign on to the Challenge and the time, and that in their experience, rec- complete the Green Office scorecard, or ognition comes right after financial incen- just to refer to the resources available on the site to improve their practices. tives on the motivation scale. Office managers are also encouraged Resources on the website are available to anyone, but the more in-depth tools to hold training events. The site will sugare for those involved in the Challenge. gest different webinars (that other cities The friendly competition will entail spe- can use as well), as well as trainings by the cific targets and suggested methods of Building Owners and Managers Associaimprovement for two separate categories tion, and trainings designed for the City of participants—office tenants and build- by private contractors. ing managers. Office tenants Office tenants registering for the Challenge are asked to self-evaluate using a scorecard provided on the site. After answering 50 yes-or-no questions tenants receive a rank from 1 to 5, meaning high to no achievement. For the next six to 12 months they will use methods and suggestions from the website to improve their score in five different areas: waste, energy, transportation, engaging property managers and community outreach. “We really hope people will strive to improve upon what they are already doing,” said Malick. Beyond Chicago Both ICLEI and the City of Chicago plan for the Challenge to be emulated by ICLEI members and adopted by other cities. No other city will replicate the Chicago Challenge exactly, but from the successes there, ICLEI will provide resources and guidelines on how to implement similar programs successfully. v B uildings are an important target for Chicago’s Climate Change Action Plan. One way the City plans to reduce the impact of buildings is by involving building owners, tenants and office managers in the Green Office Challenge. The Challenge is an initiative of the City of Chicago, run by ICLEI-USA and led by ICLEI staff member Amy Malick, on-site in Chicago. The online home of the project, www.ChicagoGreenOfficeChallenge.org, is packed with resources for improvements in energy efficiency, waste reduction, transportation and community outreach. EPEAT for Computer Recommendations EPEAT, a US government program to identify energy and resource efficient computers, recently released 2007 data which showed that the potential resource and cost savings of following its recommendations are phenomenal. For example, over their lifetime the recommended computers purchased in 2007 will reduce primary materials by 75.5 million metric tons and save consumers and manufacturers almost $4 billion dollars, mostly in energy savings. Consider making safe and economical computers a priority in your greening process. The purchaser resource page on the EPEAT website offers case studies, participating manufacturers, model contracts, a PowerPoint presentation with talking points you can use, a benefits calculator and best purchase options. Building managers Building managers are encouraged to reduce their energy use significantly. The Green Office Challenge suggests they create an energy-use baseline on which to improve throughout the following year, using Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager. Goals for building managers range from 10 to 30% reduction in energy use, allowing managers to decide how ambitious or realistic certain goals are. “We also have goals for waste reductions, which would be monitored through private waste managers,” Malick said. The “base goal” for waste is a 30% reduction, and the “stretch goal” is 50%. For water use, those numbers are 10% and 20%, respectively. As tenants are asked to engage their A new approach Mayor Daley launched the Challenge in September, 2008 with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of 9,000 privatesector buildings by 2020. “The Chicago Challenge is different and innovative—a fresh take on engaging the private sector,” said Malick. The long term perspective is one way it is different. Multiple rounds are planned, with the number of buildings involved increasing to a total of 9,000 by 2020. The first round will include 20 buildings. “The subsequent rounds allow for people not just to seek success, but to always seek improvement,” Malick said. Mayor January 2009 17 http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/ http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/ http://www.iclei-usa.org/ http://www.epeat.net http://www.ChicagoGreenOfficeChallenge.org http://www.epeat.net/newsdocuments/2007%20EB%20Report%20Release.pdf http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=evaluate_performance.bus_portfoliomanager http://www.epeat.net/Procurement.aspx# http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com
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