What Happened?
Kansas City has launched an energy plan that includes mounting solar panels on 45 percent of its municipal buildings. Kansas City has set a 2 MW renewable energy initiative that will save taxpayers $40,000 in reduced electricity costs in the first year. The program also expects to supply 2.5 percent of each participating municipal building’s energy needs.
The Goal
Kansas City, Missouri, will be installing two different solar panel mounting systems on city-owned rooftops of police, fire and parks operations, government officers, community center and other local buildings. The solar panels are just part of Kansas City’s Climate Protection Research and Recommendations for a Comprehensive Planning Process.
The energy initiative was first adopted in 2008 and focuses on renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations to set an example for the private sector to follow. Kansas City is looking to improve economic activity, air quality, forestry and agriculture with green strategies and energy-efficient investments. Officials expect the tactics to result in:
- Reduced energy costs to businesses and households
- Increased job creation
- Improved quality of life and productivity
- Reduced air pollutants
- Increased business developments
- Reduced traffic congestion
- Lowered maintenance costs
- Reduced cooling costs
- Increased biomass energy and carbon sequestration
- Reduced urban runoff
- Increased revenue from biofuels
- Efficient use of livestock waste
- Improved weather stability
To achieve this extensive list of goals, the comprehensive plan addresses climate change and energy use from a variety of perspectives and industries.
What’s The Plan?
Launched by the Kansas City Environmental Management Commission, the city’s comprehensive energy plan focuses on addressing climate change through:
- Policy research, planning and education
- Enhancements to the built environment to increase energy efficiency
- Changes in transportation and land use patterns
- Investment in renewable energy resources
- Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
The solar panel installations are part of the city’s goal to reduce building energy use through green building principles. Aside from solar panels, building energy reduction will be achieved through:
- Rooftop gardens
- Infrared satellite photos of inefficient houses losing heat
- Incentives and funding to encourage investment in cost and energy-efficient installations
- Tax-assisted construction and rehab of inefficient buildings
- Green lights
In terms of transit and land use initiatives, the plan calls for:
- Alternative fuel vehicles in city fleets
- Expansion of local trails
- Link counties with paths and green space
- Expand mass transit options and funding sources
- New zoning and development code to support energy-efficient investments
- Attract green developers for future city projects
- Improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety
- Focus zoning density incentives around transit networks
Kansas City has some energy resource initiatives in play as well as more to come:
- Green-e certificates to encourage adoption of renewable energy sources
- Regulate emissions from backup generators
- Enable net metering programs to allow customers to use their own generation to offset energy costs
- State incentives to increase renewable energy projects
- City-owned energy systems
- Bio-energy plant to generate energy from solid and industrial waste
In addition, Kansas City is looking to offset carbon emissions with energy producing efforts including:
- 10,000 rain gardens initiative
- Green roofs
- Urban forests
- Tree planting and landscaping downtown with structural soil
- Street tree ordinance requiring shade trees
- Native plantings for new developments
Because Kansas City’s comprehensive energy plan was first proposed and accepted in 2008, it is one of the first major pushes in the country to address climate change and adopt energy-efficient alternatives on a grand scale. Kansas City hopes to implement the initiatives and develop best practices that can be adopted by other cities, states and on a national level.
Smart Energy
Gov1 has kept a close eye on energy programs, specifically efforts to optimize solar power for reduced costs.