Mayor John Hamilton announced two plans to track and reduce energy use in Bloomington for Earth Day.
At a press conference Friday morning in the City Hall atrium, Hamilton said he would ask the City Council to approve an energy-disclosure ordinance and complete a request for qualifications so Bloomington can enter an energy-savings contract for City-owned facilities.
“It is not easy to combat climate change,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it is overwhelming to look at the numbers, but there is no question a city like Bloomington should lead.”
The energy-disclosure ordinance will require owners of buildings of “a significant size” to report their energy usage each year, Hamilton said.
This should allow the building owners, residents and the general public to keep an eye on the energy use and any discrepancies between similar buildings.
Hamilton said he expects the City Council to officially consider the initiatives in about two months.
The Council and mayor will have to determine what constitutes a building of significant size and communicate with apartment and real-estate owners.
Dave Rollo, the common council’s representative for District 4, said he supported the measures.
Information-sharing, as in the disclosure ordinance, is a good way to motivate building owners to change any less-efficient habits once they see how they measure up to others, he said.
“That’s a very powerful technique, as a county, to do it collectively,” Rollo said. “I’m very enthused about it. I find Mayor Hamilton is aware that we have a very big challenge, that being climate change, and that we need to act.”
Hamilton said the City has entered similar savings contracts with companies that provide the upfront capital and work with the buildings to improve energy efficiency.
In 1999, then-mayor John Fernandez contracted Energy Systems Group to reduce energy use over a 10-year period.
In the 1999 resolution it stated that Energy Systems Group would implement changes that would eventually pay for themselves, as well as the company’s fees for advising the City.
Hamilton said the city will begin hearing proposals from other energy-saving companies after the Request for Qualifications is approved.
Prior to Hamilton’s remarks, representatives from the Bloomington’s Monroe County Energy Challenge team held signups for home-energy checks and entered people’s names into raffles for a mini energy kit and LED lightbulbs.
“Every day is Earth Day,” Hamilton said. “We live and depend on our Earth every day.”
