3rd Annual Summit Breakout Session
Introduced by: Sam Gunderson, City of Fort Worth
Cities and counties are often the best laboratories for efficiency innovation. Many efficiency initiatives and policies originate at the local level, including building codes, PACE districts, benchmarking programs, public building retrofits, and more. Cities are at the forefront of energy efficiency initiatives throughout the region. Recently, three cities in the region (El Paso, Tulsa, and Dallas) have been designated as Resilient Cities by the Rockefeller Foundation to both prepare for the impacts of climate change and implement policies that will help mitigate those impacts. Houston is one of ten cities selected for the City Energy Project to drive a suite of efficiency policies forward. Many cities in Texas and Oklahoma have energy saving goals, benchmark their energy performance to track progress, and implement aggressive energy efficiency projects to save taxpayer money. Cities also engage their communities with private building challenges like DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge, the Dallas 2030 District, and Houston’s Green Office Challenge.
Participants in this breakout discussion include Jesse Dillard, Energy Manager, City of Dallas; Lisa Lin, Sustainability Manager, City of Houston; Sam Gunderson, Conservation Specialist, City of Fort Worth; Aaron Stein, Senior Energy Analyst, City of San Antonio; Tamara Cook, North Central Texas Council of Governments; and Sitar Moody, Senior Director, Lucid Design Group.