By Andrew BowenThe Daily Northwestern
Evanston conservationists might be pleased with the outcome of Tuesday’s national elections, but their pressing concern is what people can do on the local level.
City officials and activists are working to increase energy efficiency, improve the city’s recycling program and curb greenhouse gas emissions. But the question of how to be more energy-efficient among Evanston businesses and residents has no clear answer.
Joel Freeman, an organizer of Evanston’s Energy Future, a local volunteer group that educates and lobbies for more efficient and sustainable energy usage, said legislation is not the best way Evanston can make progress at this time.
“It falls to the individual at this point, especially if you take the premise that greenhouse gas emissions are something that we can’t decide to change 10 years from now,” Freeman said. “People just have to jump in and do what they can without waiting for a new law.”
In the past, Evanston’s Energy Future has worked to educate city officials, such as the facilities management staff and aldermen, as to why energy efficiency is important. He said city administrators have expressed concern about energy issues, but there are still barriers to turning those concerns into law.
“A lot of (Evanston administrators) are not opposed to any of the ideas, but turning it into a public policy seems to be a hurdle,” Freeman said. “The ability to carry them out from the city takes a different kind of leadership.”
The state, however, has made progress in energy conservation.
“We’ve made a great stride this year toward making it public policy by enacting the (Illinois Energy Conservation Code),” said Dave Cook, Assistant Director for Facilities Management and a part of the city’s Green Team, a group of city staff members who have volunteered to work on making the city more environmentally friendly.
The code, passed by the Illinois legislature and put into effect in April 2006, sets out a list of requirements for energy efficiency that all new buildings and building renovations – public and private – must follow. Cook said the code reduces the amount of greenhouse gas produced by a building over its lifetime.
On the local level, Cook said Evanston has enacted a non-idling policy for trucks and buses, prohibiting drivers from leaving their large vehicles running while they are not driving. But he said there is more the city should do to improve its energy policies, especially with respect to recycling.
“Right now (residents) have to pay a fee for recycling … and I don’t believe that there’s a fee for hauling waste. We want to change that to a fee for hauling waste and reduce the appearance that it costs something to recycle,” he said.
Some Evanston residents are doing all they can to reduce their energy usage and environmental impact.
“The more things people can do on a small microeconomic level, the better we’re all off,” said Andrea Winship, an Evanston resident.
Winship said she and her husband use solar panels to heat their house and water, and they just bought a diesel Volkswagen Jetta they say eventually will run on biodiesel made from vegetable oil.
She said she thinks there should be energy efficiency legislation for businesses in the community, and she hopes the new Democratic U.S. Congress will support energy-efficient legislation as well.
“We have got to start thinking about alternative energy, and I’m praying that from today forward, with this new gift we’ve been given, that the Democrats will start thinking about it,” she said.
Reach Andrew Bowen at [email protected].
