EPA: Climate & Clean Energy Resource Roundup for State & Local Governments

Department of Environmental Conservation
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Dear Climate Smart Community Leader:

FYI:

 

What does your city need to be resilient? Join the conversation.

 

*Your feedback needed: updating the State and Local Climate and Energy website

 

*Greening America’s Capitals: EPA Seeking Letters of Interest by September 23

 

*New Energy Efficiency EM&V Resource Portal 

 

*Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) Releases Map Showing Status of State and Local Adaptation Efforts across United States

 

*The U.S. Energy Information Administration Releases State Fact Sheets on Household Energy Use

 

*New State Fact Sheets on Household Energy Use from EIA

 

*NOAA Coastal Services Center Releases Economic Framework Guide for Coastal Community Infrastructure

 

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*What does your city need to be resilient?

Cities around the world are growing at unprecedented rates. As a result, far too many are finding themselves unprepared to withstand and bounce back from disaster. As Fukushima, New York, Cairo, and others have demonstrated, there is an urgent need to focus on urban resilience.

Our global future is an urban one: by 2050, an estimated 75 percent of humanity will live in cities. As cities grow, it becomes ever more important that they do so with a vision of resilience, so that they are prepared for the shocks and stresses they will encounter. It's not a question of if, but when.

One Aim of the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge is to explore how the global community views, interacts with, and thinks about urban resilience.

Join the conversation and share what your city needs to be resilient. More redundancy in the electrical grid, formalized evacuation routes, more sidewalks? Use the buttons below to share your thoughts:

    

*Your feedback needed: updating the State and Local Climate and Energy website

We will be updating the State and Local Climate and Energy website over the coming months. If you have any ideas, comments, suggestions, or anything else you wish to share with us to improve the site, please let us know by sending an email to: bollerud.erica@epa.gov.

 

*Greening America’s Capitals: EPA Seeking Letters of Interest by September 23

EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities is seeking letters of interest from state capital cities interested in receiving design assistance to create a clear and implementable vision of distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorporate smart growth strategies and green infrastructure systems. Letters of interest are due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on September 23, 2013.  

Design assistance is provided through the Greening America’s Capitals program, administered by EPA. EPA conducts the program in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Fourteen state capitals plus the District of Columbia have received assistance from the Greening America’s Capitals program to date; up to 5 capital cities will be selected in 2013.

EPA is providing this design assistance to help state capitals create stronger neighborhoods that protect the environment. EPA will fund a team of designers to visit the successful applicants’ capital cities for up to three days to produce schematic designs and illustrations intended to catalyze or complement a larger planning process for a neighborhood. In the past, the EPA team has provided sustainable design techniques for streets, parks, waterfronts, and town squares. This assistance will help the selected state capitals envision ways to clean up and reuse vacant lands, provide more housing and transportation choices, reduce infrastructure and energy costs, and build civic pride in neighborhoods and the city as a whole. The design team and EPA, HUD, and DOT staff will also assist the city staff in developing specific implementation strategies.

*New Energy Efficiency EM&V Resource Portal 

The State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network (SEE Action) Evaluation, Measurement, and Verification (EM&V) Resource Portal provides a one-stop-shop for energy efficiency program administrators and project managers looking for:  

  • Industry-recognized tools and resources focused on EM&V guidance
  • Regional resources on EM&V consistency
  • Information on peer exchanges and EM&V training and certification
  • Other helpful resources related to EM&V concepts, standards, issues, and best practices.

To learn more and download resources, visit the EM&V Resource Portal.

 

The EM&V Resource Portal was developed by SEE Action’s EM&V Working Group, which leads efforts to improve energy efficiency management by increasing the accuracy, credibility, and timeliness of EM&V results.

 

If you scroll down this webpage, you will see a list of recorded webinars on different types of topics related to ecosystem-based management tools. I wanted to share this with you in case you have other federal adaptation COP members who are looking for decision-making tools.

 

*Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) Releases Map Showing Status of State and Local Adaptation Efforts

Each community will be affected differently by climate change. States and municipalities are recognizing the importance of pre-emptive action to address their vulnerabilities to climate change impacts. Many have begun to address adaptation concerns either within broader climate action plans or through separate efforts. C2ES has released a map to illustrate how cities and states are adapting, or becoming more resilient, to their individual vulnerabilities. The map highlights examples of municipal adaptation planning efforts and concrete adaptation actions. It also indicates the status of adaptation planning for each state and provides plan details where available. 

 

*New State Fact Sheets on Household Energy Use from EIA

EIA’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) gathers information through personal interviews with a nationwide sample of homes and energy suppliers. The 2009 survey resulted in energy consumption profiles for 16 individual states. Access fact sheets about residential energy consumption for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

 

*NOAA Coastal Services Center Releases Economic Framework Guide for Coastal Community Infrastructure

Coastal areas across the United States are beginning to incorporate sea level rise adaptation into their community planning. One of the most challenging aspects of adapting to sea level rise is understanding the economic implications of future inundation risk and the costs and benefits of different adaptation options. Communities are already grappling with difficult decisions about how to locate, maintain, and protect expensive community infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, and wastewater treatment plants. This report, "What Will Adaptation Cost? An Economic Framework for Coastal Community Infrastructure," provides a framework that community leaders and planners can use to make more economically informed decisions about adapting to sea level rise and storm flooding.

 

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State and local officials interested in additional information about developing and implementing cost-effective climate and energy strategies that help further environmental goals and achieve public health and economic benefits may visit EPA’s State and Local Climate and Energy Program site.

 

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Forwarded by:

 

Office of Climate Change
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway, 9th Floor
Albany, New York 12233
Phone: (518) 402-8448
Email:
climatechange@gw.dec.state.ny.us