Thursday, 4:30 PM
Mayor moves to counter global warming
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff
The City of Boston must steeply reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its vehicle fleets and government buildings under a plan by Mayor Thomas M. Menino unveiled Thursday that would put the Hub at the fore of cities acting to counter global warming.
Though the plan is aimed initially at Boston government operations, Menino set up a task force to recommend changes that would apply to all businesses and households in the city, with a broad mandate to determine ways the city as a whole can cut greenhouse emissions.
Within several months, Menino said businesses and residents will be eligible for low- or no-interest loans to pay for retrofitting their homes and workplaces with efficient "green" energy technology -- a potential $500 million program that would be the largest of its kind in the nation. Money for the loan program would be raised from private investors.
Menino put his 15-point plan into immediate effect Thursday with an executive order, portraying his new measure as a rebuke to global-warming doubters.
"Despite what the White House says, the facts are clear ... climate change is happening. Global warming is real," he said.
Under Menino’s plan, Boston city government -- which owns more than 400 buildings and 2,000 vehicles -- must cut greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Levels from 1990 are an international benchmark agreed on by scientists and environmentalists. As a first step, the city government must cut emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
To accomplish that, Menino outlined several policies the city has adopted, or plans to adopt. All new municipal buildings constructed must exceed federal government energy efficiency standards by at least 14 percent, and renovations will have to exceed them by at least 7 percent.
Additionally, at least 15 percent of electricity bought by the city must come from renewable energy sources by 2012; that means the city will have to find providers that can supply electricity created by wind, solar, or hydro power.
In the next five years, the city must also increase the amount of material it recycles by at least 10 percent. Total fuel consumption by city vehicles must drop 5 percent by 2012. And new city vehicles must use alternative fuels, have flexible fuel engines, or use hybrid technology, except in cases where such options are not available.
