Chicago: Working to Create a 21st Century Energy Policy

CHICAGO: WORKING TO CREATE A 21ST CENTURY ENERGY POLICY -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 29, 2006)

* Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, as the summer vacation season comes to a close and the winter heating season begins, I urge my colleagues to take a moment to consider the need for a serious investment in alternative energy policies. With global warming, unrest in the Middle East and stagnating wages that are stretched thin by high fuel bills, both the environment and our country stand to gain from increased and aggressive promotion of renewables and energy efficiency.

* Important steps have already been taken by state and city governments to support the use of renewable energy sources. The Apollo Alliance, an organization that promotes policies which meet the concerns of green environmentalists and blue-collar workers alike, has cited Chicago, Illinois, as being one of several forward-thinking cities that has already acted to put numerous energy-efficient policies in place. Noted by the Alliance were Chicago's comprehensive solar power, environmentally-friendly public transportation, location efficient mortgages, and green roofs initiatives.

* As what the Alliance calls a ``model'' solar-powered community, Chicago is working to promote photovoltaic cells and has attracted the solar manufacturer Solargenix to the city; a facility that employs 15 people full-time and manufactures 30-40 solar collectors a day. Solar factories such as Solargenix's and a recently-built photovoltaic field which will be used to help generate electricity (``Solar Panels Could Power Backup Plant,'' Chicago Tribune, September 21, 2006) contribute to the city's already-installed 2 MW of solar power.

* Illinois is one of the country's top five ethanol-producing states, and it is no surprise that Chicago has environmentally-friendly transportation policies as well. In addition to ethanol, the city is exploring another alternative: the hydrogen fuel cell. As Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. mentioned in their May 2005 industry report, fuel cell buses already run on the streets of Chicago. Such public buses are doubly efficient: decreasing the amount of cars on the road, as well as not producing any negative greenhouse gases themselves. The Apollo Alliance explains the Chicago Transit Authority takes its concerns for the environment even further, partnering with the Park District and 48 other municipalities to purchase green power. Commonwealth Edison, the awarded bidder, with the help of the Environmental Resource Trust (ERT), plans to sell ``green tickets'' certified by the ERT and to create a fund to further finance the resource and development of renewable energies with the proceeds.

* Simply encouraging citizens to use public transportation can greatly decrease the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from a given city, no matter what fuel is used in such transportation. Chicago has found that location efficient mortgages (LEM), mortgages that allow the purchaser to take out greater amounts of money, borrowing against the future money he or she will save by using public transportation, are particularly efficient in this respect. To further promote such mortgages and energy efficiency, Chicago also offered the first 100 LEM borrowers a voucher for $900 toward the purchase of an EnergyStar refrigerator or washer/dryer set.

* Chicago's Department of Environment also participates in green city planning through the creation of the City Hall Rooftop Garden Pilot Project in 2000 as part of the EPA's Urban Heat Island Initiative. This green roof project helps alleviate Chicago's carbon emissions by requiring a certain percentage of roof space be allocated to green roofs. The program's pilot project, the City Hall's garden, has successfully dropped the temperature on the roof surface and the surrounding air temperature--lowering cooling costs and demand for electricity in the summer and providing insulation to reduce heat energy needs in the winter. Green roofs also improve air quality by absorbing and converting carbon dioxide, producing oxygen, and removing airborne particulates.

* The Apollo Alliance has recognized the many steps that Chicago has taken to make our Nation energy-independent and environmentally-friendly. We need to build and expand on their success. We need a 21st century energy policy that uses wind power, solar power, biomass, and geothermal energy in our homes and businesses; and ethanol and hydrogen-driven vehicles on our streets. City planning must be rethought to prevent urban sprawl and encourage the use of public transportation. Chicago and other cities have shown us that we can take a new direction on our energy and environmental future--it is time that Congress act forcefully to do so as well.

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