From left: Darek Shapiro, citizen leader of local 20% by 2010 Campaign; Neville Denton, electrician who became Stamford’s 100th clean energy customer; and Mayor Malloy celebrate Stamford’s success as a Clean Energy Community.

The City of Stamfordhas committed to using 20% clean energy by 2010 and to reducing its greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 20% by 2018. The city is a member of Cities for Climate Protection and signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Stamford has inventoried their GHG emissions and has a local GHG action plan. Since 1998, the city has reduced energy use by over 11million kilowatt-hours annually through energy efficiency projects in city buildings, saving almost $1.3 million a year.

Some of the specific steps the city has taken to reduce energy use and GHG emissions include: solar installations for lighting at Kosciusko Park and at the recycling center; establishing a $6.1 million energy performance contract in more than 20 schools; reducing street lighting and piloting highly efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) street lights; replacing downtown decorative lighting to achieve a 62% energy savings; and replacing all traffic signals with LED lights.

To continue building on these accomplishments, the city plans to increase the number of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings, focus on greater use of clean energy, develop a green procurement program and look for opportunities to foster transit oriented development.