Seattle
City Scorecard Rank
2
Seattle, WA
72.00Scored out of 100Updated 10/2020
Community-Wide Initiatives
Score: 12 out of 15 points
Community-Wide Climate Mitigation and Energy GoalsList All
Climate Mitigation Goal
Seattle’s Climate Action Plan established a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 58% below 2008 levels by 2030 and to achieve zero net core emissions by 2050. The Plan also establishes sector-specific emissions reduction goals of 82% from passenger vehicles and 39% from building energy by 2030. Based on ACEEE’s analysis of past years emissions data, ACEEE projects the city will not achieve its near-term community-wide GHG emissions reduction goal.
The Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment conducts community-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventories at three- to four-year intervals.
Energy Reduction Goal
The city’s Climate Action Plan sets a goal to reduce commercial and residential building energy use by 10% and 20% respectively by 2030.
Renewable Energy Goal
As hydroelectricity powers almost all of Seattle, the city does not have a renewable energy goal; however, the Seattle Climate Action Plan states the intention to maintain Seattle City Light’s status as a carbon-neutral utility.
Last updated: August 2023
Equity-Driven Approaches to Clean Energy Planning, Implementation, and EvaluationList All
Equity-Driven Community Engagement
The city collaborated with marginalized residents living in the South Park region of Seattle to create the Duwamish Valley Action Plan. The city employed several approaches to increase participation from these residents.
Equity-Driven Decision-Making
The city’s Environmental Justice Committee (EJC) allows residents most-affected by environmental inequities to influence implementation of the city’s Equity and Environment Agenda. The EJC consists of a twelve-member board with ties to Seattle communities. The EJC oversees the Environmental Justice Fund, which is a grant opportunity for communities to pursue opportunities and projects that enhance environmental justice and social equity. In 2022 the Environmental Justice Fund has awarded $750,000 in funding to 13 community organizations for projects that advance environmental justice in Seattle. Since its launch, the EJ Fund has awarded four grant cycles totaling over $1.8 Million to 28 community-based organizations, whose projects are led by or are in partnership with communities of color impacted by environmental injustices.
As part of Seattle’s commitment to the Green New Deal, Seattle’s City Council has stipulated the creation of a Green New Deal Oversight Board made up of 19 members. Eight will come from community representatives directly impacted by racial, economic, and environmental injustices (including one tribal member and two individuals between the ages of 16 and 25 at the time of their appointment). Three representatives from environmental justice organizations; four representatives of labor unions; three representatives with experience in greenhouse gas reduction and climate resiliency strategies relevant to cities; and a workforce training specialist. Compensation is provided for those who would incur financial hardship by their participation on the Green New Deal Oversight Board.
Equity Accountability Measures
Seattle requires new policies and programs to complete a Racial Equity Toolkit at their inception. The City of Seattle requires all City departments develop race and social justice goals and assess program development and implementation with a race and social justice toolkit through the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative.
Seattle’s Equity and Environment Agenda seeks to advance racial equity in environmental planning. The Agenda outlines broad goals the city must pursue to ensure a just and equitable approach to environmental planning. The city also released the Environmental Equity Assessment Pilot tool. The tool makes environmental equity data transparent and available to the public.
Last updated: August 2023
Clean Distributed Energy ResourcesList All
Seattle City Light installed a solar-plus-storage microgrid at the Miller Community Center. The utility plans to use the project as a test case to understand the resilience benefits of the system.
Seattle City Light has developed 5 Community Solar projects with cumulative generating capacity of 170 kW.
Last updated: August 2023
Mitigation of Heat Islands List All
Urban Heat Island Mitigation Policies and Programs
Seattle incorporated the Green Factor into its city code. The Green Factor is a score-based landscaping standard that requires new developments to integrate green infrastructure practices such as green roofs, rain gardens, and swales into the development.
The city has adopted a private tree protection ordinance.
The city grants floor area bonuses for developments that preserve and/or provide open space amenities as part of a transfer of development rights policy.
Resilience Hubs
We were unable to determine if the city has supported the creation of resilience hubs that incorporate clean energy resources and are sited in disadvantaged communities.
Last updated: August 2023
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Workforce DevelopmentList All
Workforce development for disadvantaged workers
We could not determine if city has partnered with a local education institution, labor union, or community-based organization to create, support, and/or incentivize the development of clean energy workforce development initiatives that target training and support services for potential or existing workers from disadvantaged communities to obtain and keep in-demand jobs.
Workforce development for the broader community
We could not determine if city has partnered with a local education institution, labor union, or community-based organization to create, support, and/or incentivize the development of clean energy workforce development initiatives that target training and support services for potential or existing workers from the broader community to obtain and keep in-demand jobs.
Outcomes tracking
We could not determine if the city has instituted a mechanism to measure the performance and/or success of equitable workforce development initiatives focused on the clean energy sector.
Last updated: August 2023
Buildings Policies
Score: 23 out of 30 points
Building Energy CodesList All
Overview
The State of Washington requires all local jurisdictions to comply with the state mandated residential building energy codes but permits local jurisdictions to have more stringent commercial codes. The 2021 Washington State Energy Code for residential buildings is based on the 2021 IECC. The Seattle Energy Code for commercial buildings incorporates provisions that significantly reduce building energy use and carbon emissions, resulting in approximately 20% better efficiency than ASHRAE 90.1. The City of Seattle has actively advocated for local authority to adopt its own residential stretch code.
In the most recent 2021 legislative session, HB 1084 included a provision to grant this authority. The City of Seattle provided written and in-person testimony to the legislature and coordinated on bill language with the bill sponsor. To learn more about the building energy codes required in the State of Washington, please visit the State Policy Database.
Commercial
Commercial properties comply with the Seattle Energy Code. At this time, we are unable to produce a zEPI score for Seattle because there are no available analyses comparing the city’s code to model energy codes.
Residential
Residential properties comply with the 2021 Washington State Energy Code. The city’s zEPI score for their residential energy code is 53.25. Seattle actively advocated for the passage of HB 2931, which would have created a tiered residential energy code. The city conducted legislative outreach and partnered with environmental organizations, industry groups, and other cities as part of its efforts.
Solar-readiness policies
The city requires commercial and multifamily buildings to install renewable energy or be solar-ready. As part of this policy, if solar is not feasible, the building must achieve energy efficiency savings more stringent than the current code.
EV-charging readiness policies
The City of Seattle adopted an ordinance in Spring of 2019 that requires all new construction to include EV readiness. The number of EV enabled parking spots are dependent on total number of parking spots built. Off-street parking rules also apply. Additionally, the City proactively lobbied for WA state House Bill 1257 which requires EV readiness in new construction for all on-site parking. The bill passed the legislature.
Low-energy use requirements
The Sustainable Buildings and Sites Policy for municipal facilities requires new construction and major renovations 5,000 square feet or great to meet LEED Gold certification, as well as key performance requirements for energy and water efficiency, waste diversion and bicycle facilities.
Electrification policies
Seattle's commercial energy code requires all-electric space heating in all commercial buildings, and electric water heating in hotels and multifamily buildings. It also requires electric-readiness for cooking end uses.
Last Update: August 2023
Building Energy Code Compliance and EnforcementList All
Seattle staffs five full time employees solely dedicated to energy code compliance. Seattle requires plan reviews, air barrier testing, mandatory commissioning, and site inspection to meet compliance standards. The city offers training and education on both general code compliance training and offers customized events for individual stakeholder groups. The city also provides upfront support on lighting aspects of the energy code through the Lighting Design Lab.
Last Updated: June 2021
Policies Targeting Existing BuildingsList All
Building performance standards
The City of Seattle lobbied actively for WA state bill HB1257, which mandates that existing commercial buildings 50,000 sq feet or greater meet certain energy use thresholds. The City is drafting legislation to enact a building emissions performance standard (BEPS) for existing commercial and multifamily buildings with a lower threshold of 20,000 square feet or greater.
Retrocommissioning requirements
The Seattle Tune-Up Policy (Seattle Municipal Code 22.930) requires the owners of nonresidential buildings over 50,000 square feet to perform building tune-ups to optimize energy and water system performance once every five years.
Commercial and multifamily benchmarking
Seattle formally adopted Municipal Code 22.920 that required commercial and multifamily buildings greater than 20,000 square feet to benchmark energy usage. The public may access building data on an open data map. The benchmarking policy covers 83% of commercial and multifamily buildings. The policy has achieved a compliance rate of 100%.
Energy audit requirements
In addition to tune-ups, the Seattle Tune-Up Policy (Seattle Municipal Code 22.930) requires the owners of nonresidential buildings over 50,000 square feet to perform energy assessments to optimize energy and water system performance once every five years.
Incentives
Seattle offers expedited permitting to green building projects through its Priority Green program. The city runs an incentive zoning program that requires developers to provide public benefits to achieve greater height/density on their building site. Through Seattle's Director's Rule, land use departures (e.g. floor area increases) are allowed for both residential and commercial construction that achieve green standards. Additional development capacity like floor area and height are offered through the Land Use Code via the Green Building Standard and Living Building Pilot.
The city's Clean Heat Program provides a rebate for residential households to switch from oil to electric heat pumps. Seattle City Light, the city’s municipal utility, also provides rebates for cost-effective, above-code construction and for existing building efficiency improvements.
The city's Home Repair Loan Program provides affordable loans to income-qualified homeowners to address critical health, safety, and structural issues -- including energy efficiency measures.
Seattle has also partnered with two nonprofits to provide energy efficiency financing and utility repayment plans.
Program outcomes
The city collects data on its incentive or financing programs to understand participation rates and allocation of program benefits among disadvantaged communities.
Voluntary programs
The city runs the Seattle 2030 District, a voluntary benchmarking program for commercial buildings.
Last Update: August 2023
Transportation
Score: 19.5 out of 30 points
Sustainable Transportation Planning List All
Sustainable Transportation Plan
Seattle's 2035 Comprehensive Plan was updated in 2022 and includes sustainable transportation strategies. It also includes strategies specifically benefitting disadvantaged communities.
VMT/GHG Targets and Stringency
The city's Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2013, contains a goal to reduce GHG emissions from transportation 82% by 2030 from 2008 levels. The city’s target requires a 4% average per-capita annual decrease from its target baseline. Therefore, Seattle earned 2 points for the stringency of its target.
Progress Achieved Toward VMT/GHG Targets
Based on the data provided, Seattle is projected to reduce its per capita transportation GHG emissions by 12% per year. Therefore, the city is on track to meet its target of a 82% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030.
Last Updated: September 2023
Location Efficiency List All
Location Efficient Zoning Codes
We were unable to find information indicating that the City of Seattle has made changes to its zoning code in the past 10 years to facilitate more residential density, mixed-use development, or transit-oriented development.
Parking Requirement
Seattle has eliminated residential parking minimums for developments within the Station Area Overlay District and within urban centers.
Location Efficiency Incentives and Disclosure
Seattle offers exemptions from the minimum parking requirement for developments within a frequent transit service area. Seattle also offers expedited environmental review for mixed-use developments.
Affordable Housing around Transit
The city incentivizes affordable housing near transit by offering tax exemptions for affordable housing developments in designated urban centers, which are served by high-capacity transit.
Last Updated: September 2023
Mode Shift List All
Mode Shift Targets
According to the city's 2035 Comprehensive Plan, Seattle has a goal of 65% of work trips being made by modes other than single-occupant vehicles by 2035, and 75% of non-work trips being made by these modes by 2035.
Progress Achieved Toward Mode Shift Targets
The City of Seattle did not provide data collected on mode share since the adoption of its goal; therefore, we cannot assess progress toward the goal.
Subsidized Access to Efficient Transportation Options
Through a partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) provides residents of SHA properties with unlimited-use ORCA cards, which grant access to transit service provided by several agencies in the Puget Sound region.
Last Updated: September 2023
Public Transit List All
Transit Funding
The transit entities that serve the City of Seattle have received $1,737,136,403.40 on average annually between 2017 and 2021 from local sources. That equates to roughly $535.99 per capita between 2017 and 2021 within the service area.
Access to Transit Services
The AllTransit Performance Score measures a given community's transit access and performance. The score considers connections to other routes, access to jobs, service frequency, and the percent of commuters who ride transit to work. The City of Seattle's AllTransit Performance Score is 8.5, scoring 3 points in the City Scorecard.
Last Updated: September 2023
Efficient VehiclesList All
Efficient Vehicle Purchase Incentives
Neither the City of Seattle nor the local utility provide incentives for purchasing efficient vehicles.
Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Incentives
Seattle City Light, the municipal utility for the City of Seattle, offers rebates of up to $4,000 per port on level 2 chargers and $50,000 per port on DC fast chargers for businesses. The utility also offers rebates covering up to 50% of the total project cost of installing level 1 chargers on multifamily properties and up to 100% of the total project cost of installing level 2 chargers on affordable housing properties.
Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Requirements
The Washington State Building Code requires commercial, retail, and industrial developments, as well as most multifamily developments, to install EV charging stations in 10% of parking spaces.
EV Charging Ports
The City of Seattle has 111 vehicle charging ports per 100,000 people available for public use.
Electric School Bus Goal
Seattle Public Schools has set a goal of transitioning 100% of its bus fleet to electric by 2040.
Electric Transit Bus Goal
King Country Metro, a transit agency serving the City of Seattle, set a goal of transitioning 100% of its bus fleet to zero-emissions by 2035.
Last Updated: September 2023
Freight System EfficiencyList All
Sustainable Freight Plans
Seattle's Freight Master Plan contains several sustainable freight strategies, including strategies to enable bike and non-truck deliveries in urban areas, piloting off-peak deliveries, exploring the use of freight demand management to consolidate freight trips, and implementing urban consolidation centers.
Open Data Portals
The City of Seattle does not have an open data portal with real-time freight data.
Last Updated: September 2023
Community Energy Infrastructure
Score: 11 out of 15 points
Community Energy Infrastructure Summary List All
Seattle City Light, a municipally operated utility, is the primary provider of electricity for the City of Seattle. Puget Sound Energy (PSE), an investor-owned utility (IOU), is the primary provider of natural gas for Seattle. The State of Washington requires spending and savings targets for its IOUs and municipally-run utilities through an EERS. To learn more about the state requirements for electric and gas efficiency, please visit the Washington page of the State Database.
The Drinking Water Line of Business within Seattle Public Utilities, a municipal utility, provides retail drinking water services for Seattle and several adjacent cities as well as providing wholesale drinking water to water purveyors across King County. Seattle Public Utilities also manages the city’s stormwater and wastewater conveyance systems. Seattle’s wastewater, via Seattle Public Utilities' combined and sanitary only sewer lines, is conveyed to Regional transmission lines and treatment plants by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, a municipal utility. In Seattle, each entity runs its own ratepayer-funded efficiency programs.
Last Updated: July 2021
Electricity and Natural Gas Efficiency SavingsList All
In 2019, according to Seattle City Light, they achieved 92,181 MWh in net incremental savings, representing 1.05% of retail sales. In 2019, Seattle City Light spent $32,920,361 on energy efficiency programs, which represents 3.51% of its retail revenue.
In 2019, PSE reported savings of 3.22 MMtherms from natural gas efficiency programs, representing 0.36% of its retail sales. In 2019, PSE spent $15,910,511 on energy efficiency, which equates to $20.20 per residential customer. These figures cover the entire Washington service territory, not just Seattle.
Seattle City Light offers electric efficiency incentives and technical assistance to residential and commercial/industrial customers. PSE similarly offers natural gas efficiency programs to residential and business customers.
Last Updated: July 2021
Low-Income & Multifamily EE Programs List All
Low-Income Programs
Seattle City Light funds a low-income weatherization program administered by the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing called HomeWise. HomeWise provides energy efficiency measures including air-sealing, ductless heat pumps, water heaters, refrigerators, and lighting to single-family and multifamily properties. The program also includes health and safety measures such as bath and kitchen fans. Seattle City Light also provides efficient lighting, water efficiency measures and power strips to low-income multifamily customers through the Multifamily Direct Install program, described in the Multifamily section below. Seattle City Light defines low-income as 70% of the state median income.
Seattle City Light provides funding to the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing. The Office of Housing receives additional funding from the State Department of Commerce and the Bonneville Power Administration. The Office of Housing coordinates activities with local governments and agencies inside and outside the city of Seattle, such as the King County Housing Authority, Seattle Housing Authority, and low-income housing providers. Low-income weatherization is funded through funds from Seattle City Light, the Seattle Housing levy, Washington State Capital Budget, Federal funds, and Puget Sound Energy. In 2020, this amounted to $4.09 million allocated towards low-income weatherization programs.
In 2019, according to Seattle City Light, it achieved 86 MWh in energy savings from its low-income programs, while serving 2,359 low-income customers and spending $2,689,075.
While PSE offers the Weatherization Assistance Program to qualified low-income gas residential customers in the City of Seattle boundaries. PSE program provides free weatherization assistance to single family, multi-family, and manufactured home customers. Measures provided include insulation, air sealing, water and space heating measures and health/safety and repairs measures. The program targets households with high energy users, elderly, disabled, children, and tribal members. Households that are eligible for federal bill assistance or weatherization programs automatically qualify for PSE’s program. The program is implemented in collaboration with county and municipal low-income weatherization agencies, the Washington State Department of Commerce, and participating weatherization contractors and suppliers.
In 2019, according to PSE spent $914,253 on its low-income program and served 1,825 low-income customers. The savings value for their 2019 low-income programs was not available.
Multifamily Programs
Seattle City Light’s multifamily comprehensive program consist of four segments. The Multifamily New Construction segment works with multifamily developers of five or more-unit buildings to incorporate energy-efficient technologies and equipment into building design. Seattle City Light provides financial incentives to offset the costs of energy-efficient technologies and equipment. Measures include in-unit lighting, dryers, heat pumps, and advanced power strips. The Multifamily Retrofit segment offers rebates for upgrades to in-unit and common area lighting in multifamily properties. The Multifamily Weatherization segment offers rebates for replacing windows and insulation in electrically-heated multifamily propitiates. The Powerful Neighborhood's Direct Install segment offers free efficient LED bulbs, shower heads, and faucet aerators to owners or managers of residential buildings with five or more units.
In 2019, according to SCL, it achieved 15,190 MWh in energy savings from its multifamily programs, while serving 5,029 multifamily properties and spending $5,841,136.
PSE offers the Multifamily Retrofit Incentives Program. This comprehensive program provides a free energy assessment along with a combination of free direct install replacement measures and electric/gas incentives. Multifamily structures and campuses typically have the opportunity to participate, with upgrades in individual units, common areas, and for the building envelope. PSE spent $1,373,405 on its multifamily program and served 204 housing units and 9 multifamily properties in 2019. We were unable to verify program savings in 2019.
In addition, Seattle City Light funds the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing's HomeWise Weatherization Program. The program targets rental property owners with a majority of tenants meeting income qualifications. Program measures include attic and wall insulation, combustion appliance safety, ventilation and indoor air quality measures, air and duct sealing, pipe wrap, in-unit or central heating and hot water systems, and additional measures as determined.
Last Updated: August 2021
Provision of Energy Data by UtilitiesList All
Seattle provides automated benchmarking services through Portfolio Manager. PSE signed on with the City of Seattle to partner on the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Initiative, Energy Data Accelerator, to facilitate better access to energy usage data.
Seattle receives annual energy consumption data at the aggregate level (commercial, residential, and industrial sectors) from Seattle City Light and PSE for the purposes of compiling their GHG emissions inventory report. The data can be viewed under the Tracking Metrics section of the 2018 Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory report.
Last Updated: July 2021
Decarbonization and Climate Change Mitigation Efforts of Cities and Energy UtilitiesList All
Utility Climate Mitigation Goal
In 2005, Seattle City Light became the first electric utility in the country to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions, and has maintained carbon neutral status in subsequent years. Over 80% of the power produced by SCL is generated from hydroelectric power, and the remaining power is generated from a mix of power sources, excluding coal and natural gas.
City-Led Efforts to Decarbonize the Electric Grid
Because Seattle City Light is powered by carbon-free energy sources, the City of Seattle achieved zero emissions per capita in 2019.
Clean Distributed Energy Resources
Seattle City Light installed a solar-plus-storage microgrid at the Miller Community Center. The utility plans to use the project as a test case to understand the resilience benefits of the system.
Seattle City Light has developed 5 Community Solar projects with cumulative generating capacity of 170 kW.
Municipal Renewable Energy Procurement
We were unable to find information regarding onsite or offsite municipal renewable energy systems installed by the City of Seattle.
City Renewable Energy Incentive and Financing Programs
Seattle offers expedited permitting to green building projects through its Priority Green program. The city runs an incentive zoning program that requires developers to provide public benefits to achieve greater height/density on their building site. Through Seattle's Director's Rule, land use departures (e.g. floor area increases) are allowed for both residential and commercial construction that achieve green standards. Additional development capacity like floor area and height are offered through the Land Use Code via the Green Building Standard and Living Building Pilot.
Seattle City Light also offers net metering for solar systems up to 100kW.
Last Updated: September 2023
Efficiency Efforts in Water ServicesList All
Citywide Water Efficiency and Goals
To help customers reduce water use, the Saving Water Partnership (SWP)—which is made up of Seattle and its 18 water utility partners—offers water-saving rebates, community and youth education, cost-sharing with customers who retrofit old water-using equipment with new equipment that is more efficient than required by national and state codes, as well as educational campaigns for efficient water use in the landscape. Seattle City Light collaborates with Seattle Public Utilities on joint energy and water efficiency programs, often focusing on water heating.
The SWP has a ten-year regional water use efficiency goal to keep the total average annual retail water use of SWP members under 110 million gallons per day from 2019 through 2028.
Water Plant Efficiency and Self-Generation
The Wastewater Treatment utility, operated by King County, has an energy conservation goal of 2% per year from a 2007 baseline, but does not have a comprehensive energy management strategy.
Several of the water treatment plants generate energy on site from digester gas, and the West Point treatment plant has a combined heat and power system over its anaerobic digester which additionally produces 23,000 MWh annually.
Last Updated: August 2021
Local Government Score:
6.5 out of 10 points
Local Government Climate and Energy Goals List All
Climate Change Mitigation Goal
The city of Seattle set a goal to reduce local government GHG emissions 40% by 2025, using a 2008 baseline.
Energy Reduction Goal
The city of Seattle set a goal to reduce local government building energy use 40% by 2025, using a 2008 baseline.
Renewable Energy Goal
The city of Seattle set a goal to continue to use 100% renewable energy to power city operations.
Last updated: November 2023
Procurement and Construction Policies List All
Fleet Policies and Composition
The City of Seattle’s Green Fleet Action Plan requires 50% reduction in greenhouse gas pollution from a 2013 baseline across the municipal fleet by 2025. This action plan prioritizes electric vehicles where possible in addition to biofuels, advanced technology pilots, fleet right-sizing, driver behavior, and anti-idling efforts. Seattle updated the plan in 2019. Additionally, the city is currently reviewing their fleet procurement policies to develop a new Green Fleet Standard. Seattle’s fleet is composed of 28% efficient vehicles, including battery electric vehicles.
Public Lighting
We did not find information regarding the adoption of a policy requiring efficient outdoor lighting, such as the International Dark-Sky Association’s Model Lighting Ordinance. The City of Seattle was one of the first cities in the nation to embark on a massive city-wide streetlight conversion project that that was part of the DOE LED street lighting consortium project. In 2014 residential conversions were completed and the utility has expanded conversion in other parts of the city including the downtown center. Controls are managed at site and not from a central control center. Fixtures have the ability to extinguish when sufficient daylight is available with photocell sensor. 86% of streetlights in Seattle have been converted to LED.
Inclusive procurement
The city has a socially responsible policy for procuring, purchasing, and contracting for all projects, including energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Seattle City Light, the city's utility, and the Office of Sustainability, have plans and goals for utilization of women- and minority-owned businesses. The City actively supports utilization of WMBE on City contracts as both primes and subcontractors, and each City department establishes plans and annual voluntary goals for WMBE inclusion in consulting and purchasing contracts. 47% of the Office of Sustainability & Environment's purchases were made from WMBE contractors. Seattle engages in PLA and CBAs.
Last updated: September 2023
Asset Management List All
Building Benchmarking
Seattle benchmarks approximately 90% of municipal buildings over 5,000 square feet. Data is disclosed publicly, updated monthly, and analyzed annually.
Comprehensive Retrofit Strategy
Since 2011, through a Mayor's announcement, Seattle has had a goal to achieve 20% energy savings in municipal buildings by 2020 from a 2008 baseline. A citywide Resource Conservation Management Plan (RCMP), adopted by City Council Resolution 31491 in December 2013. The 2013 Resource Conservation Management Plan includes continued capital and operations improvement strategies, along with ongoing building analyses to identify future opportunities. As part of that plan, $3 million is dedicated to capital energy efficiency projects in 14 facilities in 2015-2016, with additional funding for operations improvements and measurement and verification. Mayor’s Climate Strategy includes a commitment from the Mayor for the City to double its budget allocation from 2021 to 2025 and set a new target to achieve an overall 40 percent energy and carbon emissions reduction in municipal buildings by 2025. Since 2015, the city has completed approximately 50 energy efficiency projects and goal tracking indicates a 22% decrease in site energy use.
Last updated: May 2021