This December marks the one-year anniversary of the historic Clean Energy Green Bay plan. This plan put Green Bay on the path to fully transitioning to clean energy by 2050. The City of Green Bay is marking this occasion with the launch of Energize Green Bay, a public outreach campaign that will serve to help city residents, small business owners, and nonprofits make their homes and buildings more energy efficient and run on clean energy. The hiring of a Clean Energy Connector and the creation of this campaign is a key recommendation of the Clean Energy Plan. Thanks to an Energy Efficient and Conservation Block Grant from the Department of Energy, Alex Galt was hired for this role in June 2024.
Over the next year and a half, Energize Green Bay will be hosting public meetings, attending community events, partnering with community-based organizations, offering “help desk” services, and finding other ways to connect residents to tax credits, rebates, and other incentives related to energy efficiency and clean energy. The heart of Energize Green Bay will be its website, greenbaywi.gov/energize. The website will be the central resource for the campaign. You can also subscribe to “The Green Bay Electric Wire,” Energize Green Bay’s blog and email newsletter.
The City of Green Bay has made progress on other recommendations as well. Of the 36 recommendations in the plan, the City has either achieved or is currently working on 16. Including:
- The City of Green Bay has achieved SolSmart Silver Certification by streamlining the permitting and inspection process for solar installations and training City staff on best practices. SolSmart Certification has been shown to increase installation by 17-20%.
- Wheels are in motion to create a Resilience and Sustainability Team (RST) to coordinate sustainability initiatives and increase preparedness for climate-related and other disruptions across city departments. RST will work on improving internal and external communication about the City’s sustainability efforts and goals. Further, the creation of this team will be instrumental to achieving more of the City’s clean energy goals.
- We are developing an interdepartmental resilience and sustainability hub on the City’s website to serve as a one-stop resource for the community.
- The City has a goal of reducing fleet emissions by 15% by 2030. We have made progress towards reducing fleet emissions with the purchase of two EVs for the Green Bay Police Department and an electric bus in 2025. These are pilot projects that will help the City learn best practices and adopt policies that will aid the transition to EVs.
- The City has a goal of transitioning 65% of our electricity to carbon free sources by 2030. Funding has just been approved in the 2025 budget for the installation of solar PV panels on the East and West Side Garages. These will join solar PV installations on Fire Station No. 5 and at Leicht Park.
- As part of achieving a more “holistic” transportation plan, we were awarded a Safe Streets for All grant for just under a million dollars. This will allow us to create an action plan for bicycle and pedestrian safety and implement pilot projects in 2025.
We are pleased with the progress that has been made and we are excited about what 2025 will bring.