City Accepts EPA's Green Power Challenge

The Rockville City Council on Monday voted unanimously to accept a challenge from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The Green Power Community Challenge encourages residents and businesses to purchase electricity generated from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas and certain forms of biomass and hydropower.

The city will track and report to the EPA on Rockville's collective green power use from March through August. In September, the EPA will recognize the U.S. community using the highest percentage of green power and the community using the most kilowatt-hours of green power.

Rockville is off to a solid start.

“We just entered this program and we just voted it in and we already exceed standards,” Councilman John Britton said moments after the council voted, as he held up a sign that read: “Welcome to a Green Power Community."

“We exceed EPA guidelines for buying clean renewable energy as a community now,” Britton said.

The sign will be placed along a city street, said Erica Shingara, an environmental specialist for the city.

The city’s goal is to increase green energy use to at least 3 percent of the city’s total energy use, or 65.8 million kilowatts—the approximate annual energy use of 5,958 average-sized single-family homes, according to the city’s Web site.

The Web site includes information on how homeowners can enroll to receive electricity from green energy suppliers. 

Residents can learn more at a free Home Renewable Energy Seminar from 7 to 8 p.m. on March 23 at the Croydon Creek Nature Center.

In October, the Rockville Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Environment Commission proposed a green building tax credit under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership for Energy in Environmental Design program.

The challenge could help businesses take small steps toward earning that tax credit, Shingara said.

Businesses must achieve 50 points under the LEED program for existing buildings in order to be eligible for the tax credit. Points can be earned by taking steps such as environmentally-friendly building upgrades, the use of recycled building materials or using renewable energy.

The challenge “is a voluntary program to promote either the purchase of green power or the onsite installation of green power, such as solar panels," Shingara said. Participating businesses could earn one to six points toward the tax credit.

"So it certainly promotes the program but you certainly have to do a lot more to achieve what is necessary for LEED certification,” she said.

The council is considering setting aside $50,000 for the tax credit in the fiscal 2012 budget.