Glencoe Awarded Gold for Clean Air Efforts

The Village of Glencoe has been awarded a gold-level member award for its efforts to improve air quality in the Chicago region as part of the Clean Air Counts program. 

The program aims to reduce pollutants, emissions and energy consumption. The multi-year initiative is a collaborative effort sponsored by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the City of Chicago, federal and state environmental protection agencies and almost 100 member municipalities. 

In 2007, when the Village of Glencoe joined the Clean Air Counts program it achieved the bronze-level member award. 

Now five years later the village has achieved gold thanks to many green initiatives such:

• Installing energy efficient lighting at Village Hall
• Adopting a municipal fleet anti-idling policy
• Conducting energy efficient and green building code audit
• Offering the option to purchase renewable energy 

Currently about 1 percent of Glencoe resident, or about 27 households, purchase renewable energy through the village’s alternative electricity supplier MC2, according to village officials. 

In 2011, the village replaced existing indoor lighting fixtures at the Village Hall – some of which were original to the building built in 1956 –with high efficiency bulbs. 

The $68,000 lighting replacement project was offset by a $15,100 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and a $17,500 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, according to Nathan Parch, community development analyst for the Village of Glencoe. 

Before the lighting upgrade, the village’s lighting cost per year were $14,246, after the upgrades, lighting costs dropped to about $4,000, saving the village about $10,000 annually, Parch said. 

The village is also projected to save some 96,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity thanks to the upgrade. Before energy efficient bulbs were installed, Village Hall consumed about 134,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, after the upgrade the building uses about 38,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, Parch said. 

“The end result is twofold: improved lighting quality and lower utility bills,” Parch wrote in an email. 

For more information about the North Shore Electricity Aggregation Consortium program visit: www.NorthShoreElectricityAggregation.com/Glencoe

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