Arlington’s Energy Future: Task Force Report Completed

April 2011

On January 1, 2010, the County Board established the Community Energy and Sustainability Task Force and charged them with creating a Community Energy Plan for Arlington through 2050. This effort builds on the County’s Fresh AIRE program (Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions) and is designed to meet three specific goals:

1) Ensure economic competitiveness,

2) Provide energy supply security,

3) Protect the environment.

The broad-based Task Force unanimously adopted their final report in March 2011. Residents participated on the Task Force, over forty official liaisons representing organizations and community groups participated regularly and two Community Energy Town Hall meetings were held. The Report establishes a transformational strategy to reduce Arlington’s overall energy use. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, widely used as a measure for energy use, are proposed to be reduced from the 2007 level of 13.4 metric tons CO2e/capita per year by more than 70 percent by the year 2050, down to 3 metric tons CO2e/capita per year.

The report consists of eighteen recommendations, including to:

· Improve energy efficiency of new and renovated buildings

· Manage building operations to reduce energy costs

· Deploy district energy and renewable energy sources

· Continue Arlington’s award-winning transportation programs

· Improve energy literacy and provide education and training.

The County Board is scheduled to consider the report at the May Board meeting. Should they accept the report, the next step is to develop a Community Energy Implementation Workplan that will help shape the final Community Energy Plan, which would eventually become a new element of Arlington’s Comprehensive Plan. Community input will continue to be important in moving forward.

Energy planning is now being understood as the next phase of Arlington’s smart growth evolution. According to the Task Force, “Bold decisions and commitments that were made by community leaders forty years ago were instrumental in Arlington’s sustainability successes to date and give us a good head-start on the future. The recommendations contained in this…Report are ambitious yet practical and proven. The Arlington community has the opportunity and the capacity to embrace and support these recommendations and thus to transform and secure Arlington’s economic, energy, and environmental future.”

Learn more, follow the process, and provide comments at www.arlingtonva.us/energyplan. This web page contains the full report and an Executive Summary, all Task Force materials, and a FAQ document.