CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Protection of Fresh Water and Waterfront
Chicago, Illinois – Leading by Example to Conserve Water
The City of Chicago has installed more than 150 low-flow, tamper-proof faucet aerators at City Hall and other municipal facilities and dual-flush handles at the Cultural Center. Additionally, the City is piloting low-flow showerheads at a police station and ultra-low-flow urinals at high-use public facilities. If successful, these water saving measures could be rolled out to police and fire stations and other public buildings respectively across the city. To promote water conservation to residents, the City launched MeterSave, a new program offered to non-metered Chicago homeowners to voluntarily install water meters. Participants also receive their choice of an indoor or outdoor water conservation kit or rain barrel to save even more water and money.
https://www.metersave.org/
Low Carbon Energy Generation
Chicago, Illinois – Chicago Area Alternative Fuels Deployment Project
The City of Chicago received a $15 million grant from teh US Department of Energy to deploy 554 alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles in public and private fleets and install 153 alternative fueling and electric vehicle charging stations throughout the region. By providing easy access to alternative fueling stations, the City aims to increase the adoption of these technologies, leading to improve air quality and reduce fuel usage. Participating fleets include local taxi companies, utility companies, and municipalities, refuse haulers and car sharing programs. The combined benefits of these projects will reduce harmful vehicle emissions by an estimated 448 metric tons per year, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 7,600 metric tons per year, displace 3.08 million gasoline gallon equivalents of petroleum per year, and result in 77 created and/or retained jobs. The greenhouse gas emissions benefits of this project are equivalent to removing 1,390 cars per year.
Chicago, Illinois – Springfield Ave Pumping Station Carbon Footprint Reduction
A project is under design to convert the existing Springfield Ave. Pumping Station from its current steam operation, using natural gas as an energy source, to electric, using Com Ed power as an energy source.The energy savings of this conversion are substantial.In addition to an energy cost savings of about $4,000 per day, it is estimated that the pumping station’s carbon footprint will be reduced by approximately 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.This reduction is equivalent to removing about 2,800 passenger vehicles from service. In addition, the building will be designed to achieve LEED Certification, and will include a green roof and a photovoltaic installation.
Green Built Environment
Chicago, Illinois – Green Permit Program
The City of Chicago's Green Permit Program was created to encourage building design, construction and renovations that provide healthier environments, reduce operating costs and conserve energy. The Green Permit Program offers two incentives to developers and owners of projects that incorporate innovative green building strategies. The first incentive is an expedited permit process that reduces permit time by half (between 15 to 30 business days this varies with the complexity of the project). The second incentive provided by the program is a more direct financial benefit through reduced permit fees. The program Benefit Tier Chart specifies the minimum threshold levels of qualification necessary to enroll in the program and receive the available incentives. The program also encourages the use of Solar panels, green roof, geothermal systems through the additional “menu item” requirements and emphasis of energy efficiency and conservation.
http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/bldgs/provdrs/green_permit.html
Chicago, Illinois – Establishing the Value of Chicago’s Urban Forest: the Chicago Trees Initiative
In 2009, the City of Chicago established the Chicago Trees Initiative (CTI), a city-wide, public-private initiative to significantly expand the city’s tree canopy, an important mitigation strategy outlined in the Chicago Climate Action Plan. In its first year, CTI led the production of the Urban Tree Canopy Analysis and the Urban Forest Effects Model Study. Informed by these significant research efforts, CTI set a goal of expanding the urban tree canopy to 20% by 2020 and launched the Urban Forest Agenda as a guide to reach this target. More than 3.5 million trees comprise Chicago’s urban forest, occupying 17.2 percent of the city’s total area (25,800 acres). In 2010, CTI published a directory of discounted landscape contractors, wholesale and retail growers, and tree care companies to provide tree-planting incentives among Chicago residents and property owners.
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/chicagotrees/
Chicago, Illinois – Lexington Pumping Station Photovoltaic Installation
A photovoltaic system is being installed as part of a major electrical project at the Lexington Pumping Station.The PV system is being constructed on top of the existing 30 million gallon ground level water storage reservoir, and includes 5,040 solar panels.The installation will have a total maximum power generation capability of 724 KW AC, and is planned to be completed in late fall 2010. It is estimated that the pumping station’s carbon footprint will be reduced by approximately 2,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year.This reduction is equivalent to removing about 415 passenger vehicles from service. The installation is funded in part by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Chicago, Illinois – South Water Purification Plant – Green Roofs and LEED Certified Building
The Department’s South Water Purification Plant was an “early adopter” of green initiatives.When the facility was placed in operation in 1947, a large part of the treatment plant was constructed with what today would be called a green roof.This green roof has an area of 495,000 square feet, or just over 10 acres.The Department continues to develop Green Initiatives at the plant.In 2006 a 1,800 square foot green roof was installed on the new guardhouse canopy, and in 2010, the newly constructed facility housing water disinfection equipment was awarded “LEED Certified” Status by the US Green Building Council.
Chicago, Illinois – Jardine Water Purification Plant Green Roof
The Jardine Water Purification Plant was placed in service in 1967 and has a treatment capacity of over 1 billion gallons per day, and is one of the largest in the world. In 2009 the Administration Building and Low Lift Pump Building roofs were replaced with a green roof with a total area of 86,000 square feet (almost 2 acres).
Green Economy Development
Chicago, Illinois – Green Tech StrategyWorld Business Chicago completed a green industry target study to refine its efforts to encourage the retention,a ttraction and expansion of Chicago’s green industries and its individual firms. One success in this area was the decision by Veolia Environment, the world’s largest environmental services company, to locate its new North American headquarters in Chicago. This headquarters houses approximately 60 managers and administrators overseeing a $4.5 billion business.
Learn more at www.worldbusinesschicago.com
The City of Chicago and the Chicago Jobs Council (www.cjc.net) are actively participating in the Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative, a multiorganizational collaborative working to facilitate the development of a skilled workforce that is ready to meet the demands of the emerging green economy and to capture new employment opportunities for Chicagoland workers. The overall goal of the Initiative is to promote and develop a green collar workforce system that integrates green business growth, innovative workforce development, and emerging environmental practices and policies into a vibrant regional economy. The Initiative is currently conducting a survey to determine the potential demand for green collar employees in our region, as well as the supply of workforce development training. The gaps in training opportunities will be identified through this research and the Initiative will then seek to fill those through an innovative collaboration process.
Learn more at www.greencollarchicago.org.
Since 2006, the Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance has fostered the exchange of best practices and promoted more sustainable products, services, and operations, as well as provided technical assistance and financial support to businesses looking to expand their employment of green workers. Learn more at http://csba.foresightdesign.org.
An innovative way that Chicago helps businesses to reduce their impact on the environment is through the Chicago Waste to Profit Network. Developed by the Chicago Manufacturing Center in partnership with the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, the Environmental Protection Agency, and patterned after the National Industrial Symbiosis Program in the UK, the network brings together participants from more than 175 companies, institutions and City of Chicago departments to turn one company’s by-product into another company’s input. The network has succeeded in diverting more than 60,000 tons of solid waste from landfills, reduced Green House Gas emissions by more than 50,000 tons and created or retained 20 jobs. Learn more at http://www.wastetoprofit.com.
In 2001, the City of Chicago in partnership with Commonwealth Edison, the University of Illinois’ Energy Resource Center and the Waste Management and Research Center developed the Chicago Industrial Rebuild program to help the most energy and waste intensive industries in the city become more energy efficient. Through the program, a City funded energy and pollution assessment is offered to participating companies. The assessments include a detailed report outlining suggested improvements and information on how to use the energy efficiency and process improvement opportunities to improve returns. More than 60 companies have participated in the program from 2001-2009, saving $17.5 million, 53,000 tons of CO2, 35 million kWh’s of electricity and 861,290 MMBtu’s of natural gas. Learn more at www.cityofchicago.org.
With funding from the Northern Illinois Energy Project, the Chicago Department of Environment asked the Environmental Law and Policy Center, in collaboration with the Chicago Manufacturing Center (CMC) and the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council (CMRC), to create a Renewable Energy Taskforce to support the Chicago Climate Action Plan, as well as to conduct research about the supply chain for renewable energy businesses. The goal is to help the city build a renewable power industry in Chicago, creating thousands of new green jobs building the components and designing, installing, operating and maintaining the systems. CMRC, in partnership with the Jane Adams Resource Corporation, is also conducting research on the wind turbine supply chain and how Chicago can position itself to manufacture component parts.
Marketed as “the Merchandise Mart for Green Businesses,” the Green Exchange is an adaptive reuse of the former Fredrick Cooper Lamp Company. The Green Exchange consists of 272,000 square feet of space for sustainable businesses and events and is itself built to achieve a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating using energy efficient and waste reducing measures such as a green roof, solar thermal panels that will provide hot water and air-conditioning, and a 41,329 gallon rain cistern allowing storm water to be recaptured and used for irrigation and water features, among other features. Tenants located at the Green Exchange are eligible for below-market rate financing if they hire federally designated low-income individuals. The project is a collaboration of the First Ward, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the LEED Council, the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Baum Realty and the City of Chicago and receives additional funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.www.greenexchange.
The City’s Department of Community Development (DCD) launched a new focus on green jobs through Mayor Daley’s WorkNet Chicago, a network of five Workforce Centers, two Sector-Based Workforce Centers, 25 Affiliate Agencies, 100 Training Providers and 500 Training Programs throughout the city, by directing job seekers to training and education that will prepare them for green employment opportunities and meet the needs of businesses. DCD plans to provide training in energy efficiency, waste reduction and other areas in partnership with initiatives out of the Department of the Environment. Using its existing employer demand-driven system of business focused programs, DCD will also develop a new initiative focusing on linking businesses across a variety of Green sectors with skilled/trained workers from the WorkNet Chicago system.
Greencorps Chicago is a nine month training program operated by the Department of the Environment. Originally started in 1994 as a community gardening program that also created job training opportunities, today trainees receive a thorough grounding in horticultural practices, carpentry and equipment operation, as well as learning about specialized topics such as electronics recycling, environmental site remediation and home weatherization. The trainees also have opportunities to develop skills in project management and community outreach while receiving academic training and marketable certifications. Greencorps Chicago has served more than 300 trainees since its inception. Learn more at www.cityofchicago.org.
The Chicago Christian Industrial League (www.ccilworks.org) provides landscape services training for disadvantaged job-seekers. Approximately 70 workers are hired each season. As the CCAP is implemented, and more adaptation strategies that involve landscaping and planting are carried out, training like the CCIL landscape program will ensure that disadvantaged job-seekers are involved in implementing the Chicago Climate Action Plan.
Cleanslate (www.cleanslatechicago.org), a social enterprise of The Cara Program, is a neighborhood beautification business providing transitional jobs for students of The Cara Program who face significant obstacles to employment. All Cleanslate interns are individuals affected by homelessness and poverty who are motivated to transform their lives and achieve real, lasting success. Since 2005, Cleanslate has swept up and collected 185,518 bags of garbage, with over 38% of them sorted as recyclables and properly disposed of, in partnership with neighborhood associations, Special Service Associations, and the City of Chicago’s Departments of Streets and Sanitation and General Services. Since 2005, over 600 community residents have worked in transitional jobs with Cleanslate, 228 who were subsequently placed into quality, permanent employment. Additionally, The Cara Program/Cleanslate has been able to hire 14 former Cleanslate interns as full-time employees, in positions such as Crew Chief, Area Supervisor, Grounds Associates and Facilities Assistant.
City Farm converts vacant City-owned land to farm, harvest, and sell locally grown organic produce to major Chicago restaurants, the public, and subscription members. These sales and associated urban agriculture processing of recycled firewood provide 2.5 full-time, year-round jobs per acre of garden and 15 seasonal youth positions with the help of partners. City Farm has employed 70 youth from CHA housing projects and trained them in urban farming and small business management, in addition to the hundreds of adult individuals served. Learn more at www.resourcecenterchicago.org.
Growing Power’s Chicago Youth Corps provides green collar job training and employment to more than fifty 14- to 19-year-olds in after-school and summer programs. Youth Corp members work in their communities and in the 20,000 square foot urban farm located in Grant Park.Growing Power also offers internships for those seeking experience in the urban community food systems field. Several interns have moved into full-time employment with Growing Power, after the completion of their training. Interns also gain experience marketing produce at small community farmers’ markets and building customer service and entrepreneurial skills. Learn more at www.growingpower.org.
Windy City Harvest is a program of the Chicago Botanic Garden, in partnership with the West Side Technical Institute, which provides instruction in sustainable horticulture and urban agriculture to young adult residents of Chicago. In the coming year, Windy City Harvest will be offering a nine-month certificate program in Sustainable Urban Horticulture with a three month paid internship and the possibility for continued apprenticeship with Windy City Harvest. The program will produce over 5,000 pounds of produce at two locations. Learn more at www.chicagobotanic.org.