office of sustainability

Sustainable Home Initiative in the  New Economy

SHINE is a residential weatherization rebate Pilot Program offering City of Atlanta homeowners the ability to receive up to a $2,000 rebate towards qualifying improvements. Improvements include, but are not limited t duct and air sealing, insulation improvement, caulking, weather-stripping, and the replacement of doors and windows that are the source of significant heating and cooling loss. 

Overview of SHINE

List of Home Energy Assessment Contractors

List of  SHINE Improvement Contractors

Launched in 2008, the City of Atlanta’s Division of Sustainability has been focused on instituting sustainability practices into Atlanta city government. The Division of Sustainability is working with departments across city government to improve current programs and policies and implement new ones in addition to becoming early adopters of national accountability initiatives designed to promote more sustainable municipal practices. In the past year, the city has expanded its scope to include community-wide initiatives.

Climate Change and Energy

Former Mayor Shirley Franklin was one of the first signatories to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Under this agreement the city pledged to reduce its emissions by 7% below 1990 levels by 2012.  Mayor Franklin’s legacy of supporting green practices will not be forgotten with newly elected Mayor Kasim Reed who has pledged to continue moving towards this goal through energy and water conservation projects funded through federal stimulus grants and other funding.

In December 2009 the Division of Sustainability was proud to announce that Atlanta city government had reduced carbon emissions by 5.6% between 2007 and 2008. This is a major step towards the goal of reducing overall emissions in the city seven percent by 2012. We have tracked our emissions through the city’s performance management system, ATLStat. 

The City of Atlanta has undertaken a range of energy and water use efficiency initiatives to drive these reductions. We are switching to more energy efficient indoor and outdoor lighting, including LED traffic lights. Building efficiency practices are mandating lighting sensors, improving the maintenance system, installing automatic sensory faucets and setting citywide policies on temperature settings.  Specific reductions achieved include the following:

• 9.5% reduction in electricity use by Department of Watershed Management (related to 11% reduction in volume of drinking water and wastewater treated)
• 58% reduction in natural gas use at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport due to replacement of gas chillers with electric chillers; and
• 4% reduction in electricity use in other departments, including 10% savings in City Hall due to 4-5 months of aggressive savings measures undertaken by the Office of Enterprise Assets Management

We are moving to take our energy and climate change programs to the broader community.  This year we will launch energy efficiency incentive programs for the residential and commercial sectors.  We will also kick off a city-wide Climate Action Plan through support from ICLEI local governments for Sustainability, Georgia Tech, and range of local stakeholders.

Water Conservation

Residents of the city are doing an exceptional job at reducing our water consumption.  In 2009, residents of the City of Atlanta saved 29.12 million gallons of water a day, over 2006 usage. This is a total of 10.6 billion gallons saved in 2009 alone. In fact, since 2001, Atlanta’s population has increased by more than 29 percent, but our water withdrawals from the Chattahoochee River, Atlanta’s primary water source, have decreased by more than 20 percent, because of conservation, leak repairs and projects to decrease water loss and waste. The City continues to repair about 750-800 leaks per month. When the Department was under private operation, the figure was 750 a year!

Major Sustainability Initiatives

• Paper Use Reduction –The Department of Planning and Community Development has an automated Electronic Plan Review process eliminating paper and storage and reducing necessary travel. Also, City Hall has undergone an effort to decrease the amount of junk mail by cancelling subscriptions and reducing the amount of returned mail by purging mailing lists.
• BeltLine – Launched in 2006, this public-private project will be realized in a 22-mile loop of parks, greenspace, trails and transit around the city and ultimately serve as a bundle of solutions to the very challenges that threaten to limit Atlanta’s health and prosperity – traffic, deficient greenspace and recreation, and inequitable economic development.
• Connect Atlanta – Transportation planners and key stakeholders in both the public and private sector have developed the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan which incorporates expanded MARTA, light rail, BRT, and expanded HOV and express bus systems.
• Green Building – The City has passed an ordinance requiring all new city construction and major renovations to be Silver-LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. One example is the new LEED Gold Certified Public Safety Headquarters.
• Recycling – The City has a recycling program for all single-family homes and major city buildings and mandates recycling for all large events in city parks. The City also has a hazardous materials collection program in which e-waste and fluorescent light tubes are recycled. As a part of the City’s Demolition Waste Recycling program, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recycles everything on demolition and new construction sites and has used the recycled material on projects like its newest 5^th runway.
• Green Fleet – Atlanta is right sizing and right typing its fleet, revoking take-home policies, and has a shared car program for city employees. Additionally, the City is buying more fuel-efficient cars and alternative fueled vehicles in new purchases.
• Commute Alternatives Program – The City has incorporated workplace flexibility practices across its workforce of nearly 8,000. Most every employee is eligible for some Alternative Work Schedule (AWS) arrangement; from an award winning Compressed Work Week program in our court system, to the Telework Program that allows our employees to work remotely. The city also subsidizes transit passes for its employees and employs bike accessibility and walk able surfaces throughout city facilities. 
• Outdoor and Landscape Greening – In 2003, the City of Atlanta built the first municipal green roof in the Southeast. Additionally, eleven new playgrounds were installed in 2007 by a certified environmentally-responsible company that uses at least 80 percent recycled, recyclable and biodegradable materials.
• Green Business Development- The City of Atlanta’s development authority works to attract and incubate green businesses. The range of incentives are offered and administered including Solid Waste Facility Bonds, Industrial Revenue Bonds, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, New Market Tax Credits, Renewal Community Commercial Revitalization Deduction, Renewal Community Environmental Clean-Up Cost Deduction, and tax increment financing.