The Real Estate Council of Austin - Climate Protection Plan page

Climate Protection Plan

History

On February 7, 2007, at a news conference at City Hall, Austin Mayor Will Wynn unveiled an aggressive plan to reduced Austin’s greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming. The plan includes five broad components to address separate forms of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in the city. City Manager Toby Futrell and Council Members Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken have all pledged their support for the Mayor’s efforts to implement education, energy efficiency, more stringent building codes and development of a comprehensive plan for reducing GHG emissions on a community wide basis.

The Mayor traveled to Nashville in December to meet with former Vice President Al Gore to learn more about Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” presentation. Mayor Wynn plans to present this information to groups throughout the city. Mayor Wynn led Austin Energy’s campaign for plug-in hybrid vehicles, sits on the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Committee on Climate Protection and Chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Energy Committee.

Outline of Climate Protection Plan

The Municipal Plan will make all City of Austin facilities, fleets and operations totally carbon neutral by 2020:

Power 100% of city facilities with renewable energy by 2012.
Make the entire city fleet carbon-neutral by 2020 through use of electric power and non-petroleum fuels (with alternative fuel emissions offset by mitigation).
Develop departmental climate protections plans, including: policies procedures, targets and reporting for maximum achievable reduction of GHG emission and energy consumption in all city departments.
Develop a City of Austin employee climate education campaign and programs and incentives to help employees reduce their personal carbon footprint and engage in community outreach for climate protection.

The Utility Plan will implement the most aggressive utility Green House Gas Reduction plan in the nation through dramatic increases in conservation, efficiency and renewable programs, requirements for carbon neutrality on any new generation and by early retirement of existing utility Green House Gas emissions.

Achieve 700 MW in savings through energy efficiency and conservation by 2020.
Meet 30% of all energy needs through renewable resources by 2020, including 100 MW of solar power.
Achieve carbon neutrality on any new generation utilities through lowest-emission technologies, carbon sequestration and offsets.
Establish a carbon dioxide cap and reduction plan for all utility emissions.

The Homes and Building Plan will make Austin building codes for both residential and commercial properties the most energy efficient in the nation.

Make all new single-family homes zero net-energy capable by 2015.
Increase energy efficiency in all other new construction by 75% by 2015.
Require disclosure of historic energy use, facilitate and require energy efficiency improvements in existing homes and buildings at point of sale.
Enhance incentives and requirements for Green Building program and develop “carbon neutral” certification.

The Community Plan will develop comprehensive efforts to reduce GHG emissions from community wide sources.

Establish City Climate Action Team to inventory GHG emission from activities community-wide; work with stakeholders and technical advisors and report to Council in one year with recommendations for short-term and long-term reduction targets and implementation strategies for the metro area. Key areas for the study include:

Transportation
Land Use Planning
Emerging Technologies
Waste Management
Natural Areas and Landscapes
Multigenerational Education

The “Go-Neutral” Plan will provide mechanisms for all businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint to zero.

Develop online “carbon footprint calculator” for individuals and small businesses, and provide individually-tailored assessments for complex organizations and entities.
Develop a menu of local GHG reduction strategies citizens, businesses, and organizations can fund through the purchase of “carbon offset” credits.
Develop program recognition of households, businesses and groups achieving carbon neutrality.
Promote carbon neutrality among visitors by providing mechanisms and incentives for purchase of offset credits by airports travelers, conventions, trade shows and festivals.

On February 15, 2007, City Council unanimously voted to approve a resolution to approve the Climate Protection Plan and to direct City Manager Toby Futrell to develop the policies and procedures necessary to implement the Plan. Council made it clear at its meeting that the outline of this program is in its most preliminary stage and the goals set forth by this proposal will involve long-term planning and development. Council and staff will work to develop policy and programs to implement the Plan; and Boards and Commissions and the public will participate in every step of policy drafting. Pursuant to the resolution, the City Council formed a task force to identify cost-effective energy efficiency retrofits and upgrades that can be made to existing homes and commercial buildings and to propose requirements for the implementations of such retrofits and upgrades to Council. Go to RECA's Point of Sale Energy Efficiency Retrofit Policy web page for more information on this topic.

On October 18, 2007, City Council considered a resolution directing the City Manager to bring forward those measures, outlined in the Zero Energy Capable Homes Task Force Final Report, necessary to meet the goal of achieving zero energy capability in all single-family home construction in Austin by 2015.

In August 2006, Council formed the Zero Energy task force as part of the Climate Protection Initiative, in order to develop a plan to achieve zero energy in all new single family homes by 2015. The task force defined "zero energy homes" as those "that are energy efficient enough to be net zero energy homes with the addition of on-site, or its equivalent, energy generation. This level of energy efficiency is approximately 65% more efficient than homes built to the City of Austin Energy Code in effect November, 2006."

The task force developed a list of local amendments to the International Energy Conservation Code. The primary amendments include:

Requirement for building thermal envelope testing.
Requirement for installation of a radiant barrier system.
Requirement for testing duct system leakage.
Requirement for submittal of HVAC sizing calculations.
Requirement for testing air balancing of HVAC systems.
Requirement for system static pressure testing.
Revision of the restriction on electric resistance water heating.
Requirement for 25% of lighting to be high efficiency.

The local amendments are estimated to increase the cost of building a home by $1,179.00, but reduce energy costs for a typical home by $227.68 per year.

In 2008, City of Austin Mayor Will Wynn and Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan announced details of an eight-month community-wide public participation process to solicit feedback on future power generation options for Austin Energy, the city's electric utility. The "Austin Smart Energy" Public Participation Process included an extensive series of public meetings that began in October 2008.

On Thursday April 22, 2010, the Austin City Council approved an Energy Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan (Generation Plan) that will elevate the City's reliance on renewable energy to 35 percent by 2020, an aggressive benchmark well beyond the City's current 12 percent renewable portfolio. The Utility Plan portion of the Climate Protection Plan had called for a 30 percent renewable portfolio by 2020, but the approved Generation Plan will strive for a higher level of renewable energy.

The Generation Plan will not go into effect until the City adopts cost-containment goals and an affordability matrix for the plan. The City added in these provisions in response to concerns raised by a broad coalition of business community members and low income advocates worried about the potential high price tag of the new plan.

January 2012 Update

Austin Energy completed the affordability matrix for the Generation Plan in January 2011 after a series of public meetings. The Generation Plan then went to Council, but Council Members did not initially approve it because they wanted clearly defined affordability benchmarks, which were lacking. In February 2011, Austin Energy came back to City Council with those benchmarks, stating that rates would not raise more than two percent on a year-to-year basis. Based on those assurances, City Council approved the Generation Plan.

In related news, Austin Energy unveiled a rate-increase proposal at a special called meeting of Austin City Council on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. The increase will have a dramatic effect on utility bills for the average residential user. Under the proposal, Austin residents will have to pay a flat $22 per month charge, and the average bill for residents will increase 14 percent.

The proposal also offers the following tiered system for monthly rates for residential users:

First 500 kilowatt-hours would cost 2.8 cents per hour.
501-1,000 kilowatt hours would cost 6 cents per hour.
1,001-1,500 kilowatt hours would cost 8.3 cents per hour.
1,501-2,500 kilowatt hours would cost 9.4 cents per hour.
Hours in excess of 2,500 kilowatt hours would cost 10.6 cents per hour.

Austin City Council members have the final say on rate increases, and they will likely consider this new fee structure in early 2012.

Resources

NEW City of Austin's Climate Protection Program website (launched June 27, 2008)

Climate Protection Plan Resolution (adopted October 18, 2007)

Climate Protection Plan Resolution (adopted February 15, 2007)

Editorial by Mayor Will Wynn (published in the Austin American-Statesman on Sunday, February 18, 2007)