Moving forward on Cool Cities in Raleigh

Guest Post by Marvin Woll:

The Raleigh City Council should be commended for endorsing the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. In addition the city has initiated several other energy saving measures. It has begun installing energy saving lighting in city garages. The city is also switching to compact flourescent light bulbs and replacing some police vehicles with better mileage hybrid vehicles.

Now the city must take some other actions in order to implement the Climate Protection Agreement. Without these actions the Agreement will be worth nothing more than the paper it is printed on.

A logical first step would be to establish an Office of Energy Conservation Services. This person will be needed to manage the ICLEI agreement which was also endorsed by the city council. The office would also help with initiating other energy saving measures and keeping track of those measures that are already in place. Initially this office could be directed by one person with a strong background in environmental sciences. The director's salary would be paid for from the previously mentioned energy saving measures.

As the state capital Raleigh should lead North Carolina toward greater energy efficiency. Its leaders have taken some positive steps in that direction.