Madison, WI

Mayor: Dave Cieslewicz

Date of Adoption:
2005-05-01

Primary Contact:
Jennifer Feyerherm
Diane Gillan

Why My City is Cool

Madison considers itself an environmentally conscious, global community. We have one of the best places to live in the country, surrounded by lakes and natural beauty. But, we also have urban sprawl and 3 coal-fired power plants right downtown. To walk our talk and preserve our paradise, we must address our energy use and sources of global warming pollution. To his credit, our Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's vision is to "make Madison a green capitol city, a national leader in energy efficiency and renewable energy that also supports the city's economic vitality." Lets make it happen!

Green Vehicles Campaigns:
The city sponsors “Bikes at Work,” a program which allows city employees to get around on bicycles during the work day. There is also a Green Fleet Plan which implements minimum fuel efficiency and emissions standards for new vehicles and encourages the use of alternatively powered vehicles. Finally, the Mayor is bringing hybrid busses to Madison!

Clean Power Campaigns:
The Mayor's Energy Task Force has reccommended that the City government:
*Purchase 10% renewable electricity by 2006 and 20% by 2010.
*Challenge city residents to purchase renewable power, with a goal of 5% residents purchasing and 2% of entire communities' usage from renewables
*Install combined heat and power systems Unfortunately, the City still relies on steam from a coal-fired power plant to heat its main municipal buildings.

Energy Efficiency Campaigns:
The Mayors Energy Task Force has reccommended:
* City Energy Challenge to city departments to reduce energy use by 10% by 2010
*Adopt LEED green building rating system for new buildings
*Include funding for green building in capital budget packages for new construction and rennovation projects
*Adopt a High Performance Green Building Rating System for new buildings receiving public funding
*Shift budgeting focus for buildings to life-cycle costing and assessment rather than first cost
*Require Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) projects use LEED program beginning 2006

Other Campaigns:
The Mayor's Sustainable Design and Energy committee is working to implement all of the above reccomendations and more. They need our help to make the vision a reality!