GreenCityBlueLake spoke with Cleveland Sustainability Programs Manager Andrew Watterson on July 14, 2006 on the occasion of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson joining more than 200 cities who've signed the U.S. Mayor's Climate Change Agreement. We discussed what this means for sustainable activities now and in the future in Cleveland.

Congratulations on signing the climate change agreement. Did Mayor Jackson sign mainly for environmental reasons or are there other reasons?

The reasons why Mayor Jackson signed is, yes, for the environment, but also for economic development. There’s a lot of technology around addressing climate change.

When signing agreement, we’re really approaching it from municipality itself — the focus is trying to reduce the city’s own emissions, to lead [its citizens] by example.

Tell me what appreciable measures you have taken or plan to take to reduce Cleveland’s greenhouse gas emission?

So far, we've adopted an anti-idling policy which was made official on June 1, 2006.

I’ve been amazed at the impact from just creating a policy — this is in effect for the city’s whole fleet of trucks. There are exceptions for vehicles that cannot operate without running the engine, but it sets up procedures if you have, for example, multiple vehicles on site — we don’t need to have every vehicle running. A lot of lights and radios cannot operate without the engine on, so we’ll start to retrofit those vehicles. Purchases will happen over time, but the focus on idling will allow us to put better equipment on the street and change the specs when we order.

What’s the cost-benefit analysis for buying equipment that allows you to have anti-idling as far as the fuel savings and air quality improvments? What’s the payback period?

It depends on the technology we use, but for the policy itself, the cost is education and getting people to turn off their engines. The payback is immediate. For the equipment, the payback is in a range of one to two years.

Also, we’ve been purchasing hybrid vehicles — we have 32 hybrids. Most are Ford Escapes. The Escapes replace Ford Explorers, so the fuel economy change is huge. We’re downsizing our fleet (which is 4,000 light-duty vehicles), and buying more fuel efficient vehicles.

How would the city like to green up its buildings?

We’re changing our specifications, from roof replacements to high efficiency lighting. We’re working with all divisions and departments on this.

For instance, City Hall’s roof replacement is an Energy Star roof. You either have heavily insulated or reflective or green roof — we will cost compare. There’s a lot of issues here — first, there’s no parapet (or wall) on City Hall’s roof, so wind loads are really extreme. It’s a big concern, we don’t want soil or gravel from a green roof blowing off. We're not considering wind turbines, but solar is a different story. We’re looking at all renewables to reduce our carbon footprint.

We have to first establish our baseline. But, I’m under the impression that everything from planting trees to changing composition of road materials to reclaiming land qualifies for [the climate change agreement].

Have you considered looking at your building codes to ‘green’ them up?

Well, we have to look at this new residential codes that passed in the spring [supported] by HBA that prohibits municipalities from setting building codes higher than the state’s codes. But, in the city’s Housing Trust Fund, we put in additional funding for those developments that pursue Energy Star [$5,000 per unit up to 20 units with a $100,000 cap] and getting LEED certification silver or gold [a 20 percent bump up in funding also capped at $100,000]. The city’s Community Development Department has all of the details.

Are you considering renewable energy purchases for the city?

Purchases of renewable energy is something the sustainability program would like to put in place. We purchase a lot of power. We’re just starting the interviews for (a Water Department) energy manager. Their primary role will be conducting energy audits and managing energy assets in the Water Department, which has an $18 million energy bill. This person will be responsible for improving that.

With Northeast Ohio in non-attainment for air quality and the director of the OEPA telling NOACA that even drastic local measures won’t reduce emissions (that it’s a multi-state problem), can concerted local action make an impact?

To wake up in the morning you have to believe that. It’s probably the most comprehensive way to address our non-attainment status, and that’s one of biggest reason we signed the agreement.

What advice can you give to other mayors in the area considering signing the agreement?

I'd encourage them to sign it and make us a stronger region.

Other media coverage
Andrew Watterson battles bureaucracy to break Cleveland's eco-unfriendly habits, Free Times, 8/30/06