Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Finance, Sourcing Renewables - March 31, 2020
Ann Arbor launches $1 billion project for carbon neutrality by 2030
The city of Ann Arbor released an expansive $1 billion plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, including an emphasis on expanding transit services and powering the city with 100% renewable energy.
In November, the city council adopted a Climate Emergency Declaration, declaring climate change as one of the city’s top priorities and committing to identify a path toward carbon neutrality. In this month’s announcement, the city has identified 40 steps to take to reach this goal.
“These existing and future changes will cause significant impacts to our public health, safety, general welfare, local economy, transportation networks, natural environments, and our overall quality of life,” Mayor Christopher Taylor wrote in the plan’s opening letter We cannot solve this crisis on our own, but in an era of national retreat, state and local communities must do their part.”
The plan, dubbed “A2Zero”, includes putting $657 million toward expanding local and regional transits, $170 million for increased park-and-ride services and $80.6 to convert city buses to electric models. The electrification of appliances and vehicles will overall be prioritized in a total investment of $143 million into increasing EV adoption across the city, expanding an EV charging infrastructure and converting commercial, residential and municipal buildings to electric heating and water systems.
To reach the 100% renewable energy goal, the plan includes four specific actions: Community Choice Aggregation to allow local governments to procure renewable energy on behalf of residents, on-site renewables and battery storage generation, a community solar program and an additional landfill solar project. These four projects are expected to reduce community-wide emissions by 41% and cost just over $4 million.
The city’s third strategy to meet their carbon neutrality goals includes improving the energy efficiency of commercial, residential and municipal buildings by updating building codes, converting to LED lighting, community education and benchmarking. These initiatives are expected to cost $950,000 over ten years and reduce community emissions by 7.4%. The city is also pursuing a goal to convert all affordable housing units to net-zero by 2030.
The full 98-page A2Zero plan, including detailed budgeting for each project, is available online.
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