UPCOMING QUARTERLY DISTRICT PARTNERS MEETING |
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The next Ithaca 2030 District Partners meeting will be on Thursday, March 18th at 4:30 pm on Zoom.
Please check your email for the calendar invite with webinar info. RSVPs appreciated!
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Community Solar Focus of March 18th Quarterly Meeting |
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What is Community Solar and Can It Work for You?
With spring just around the corner, it's a time of renewal and fresh opportunity. The snow is finally melting and the days are getting longer.
Keeping the seasonal transition in mind, the upcoming District Partners meeting will explore community solar, a new type of energy opportunity that can help District members reduce the carbon footprint of their buildings.
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Community solar allows people who could not otherwise participate to enjoy the benefits of solar energy and save money on their electricity in the process. Instead of installing an array on your roof or property, community solar is installed at an offsite location. Insufficient space on your roof or property or inadequate exposure to the sun are no longer barriers to going solar.
One of our property members, Ben Rosenblum, has recently entered into a community solar agreement with a local project, and he'll talk about his reasons for doing so and what his experience has been. Ben, an architect and sustainable design consultant based in New York City, is the owner of the Printing Press at 416 E. State St. and one of the founding members of the Ithaca 2030 District.
In addition, Michael McGuigan, a junior at Cornell who is studying Environmental Science, will explain the nuts and bolts of community solar. Michael is an intern this semester with Common Energy, an MIT spin off that helps bring solar community projects to fruition in New York State.
Be sure to attend what will be an eye-opening discussion about an important strategy for meeting the 2030 District greenhouse gas emissions goals and cutting your energy costs!
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Ithaca 2030 District Updates |
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Performance Dashboard Reviews
We've now carried out or scheduled dashboard reviews regarding the energy and water performance of the 2030 District buildings with 19 of the 25 property members.
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We're hoping to complete reviews with the remaining property members in the near future to make sure everyone understands how the dashboard works and to answer any questions you might have.
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Transportation Surveys
We distributed links to the online 2030 District transportation surveys last month and continue to receive responses. These surveys allow us to track commuter emissions associated with the member buildings. It would be very helpful if all of the property owners/managers who received the survey links remind their staffs and/or tenants to please complete the survey. Once we've received sufficient responses, we will crunch the numbers and include the aggregate results in the annual District progress report for 2020. All of the other sections of the annual report are nearing completion and we aim to release it to the District members and general public in April.
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Welcome to the Town of Ithaca!
A warm welcome to our newest member, the Town of Ithaca, which has committed its Town Hall to pursuing the 2030 targets! We now have 29 buildings, with a total of 375,048 committed square feet. Interested in learning more about becoming a member? Please let us know -- we'd love to tell you about the benefits of joining the Ithaca 2030 District!
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The Vaccine Rollout, Racial Inequity, and the Ithaca 2030 District |
One of the most hopeful signs occurring as winter slowly comes to an end is the acceleration of the vaccine rollout in the U.S. The Biden Administration announced when it took office that it intended to vaccinate 1 million Americans in the first 100 days. What seemed like a daunting proposition at the time has turned out to be a very achievable goal, with the U.S. now vaccinating an average of about 1.7 million people each day.
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In fact, President Biden says that he is "confident" the U.S. will surpass his original goal before 100 days and that the nation could be "approaching normalcy by the end of this year." In Tompkins County over 20,000 people -- about 22% -- have now received their first dose of vaccine and the weekly number of vaccines allocated has increased significantly from just 600 per week in late January to over 2,400 in the first week of March. The hope, of course, is that with the coming of warmer weather and increase in number of people vaccinated, business will begin to pick up in the city and continue to do so for the rest of 2021.
Despite this success, as many have observed, there have been serious flaws with the national rollout. The most significant challenge has been the persistence of racial disparities in the vaccine campaign. According to a recent analysis in the New York Times, the vaccination rate for Black Americans is half that of whites, and the gap for the Latino community is even larger.
These continuing inequities in public health, along with the disproportional impact of climate change and economic consequences of the pandemic, are reminders of the deep-seated nature of systemic racism in the U.S. In particular, they underscore the critical need of the Ithaca 2030 District and its members to deepen their commitment to creating, in the words of our recently adopted statement on social justice, "a sustainable and resilient built environment that benefits all communities."
Peter Bardaglio
Executive Director, Ithaca 2030 District
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Thank you to our funders for their past and ongoing support! |
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