St. Louis
City Scorecard Rank
37
St. Louis, MO
31.00Scored out of 100Updated 5/2017
Local Government Score:
3.5 out of 10 points
Local Government Summary List All
The City of St. Louis Sustainability Plan, adopted in 2013, and subsequent Sustainability Action Agenda articulate some of the city’s energy efficiency-related activities for its internal government operations, however, the city does not have any overall energy or emissions reduction goal for its operations. St. Louis’s strategies include reducing the city fleet’s fuel use and reducing water usage.
Last updated: February 2017
Local Government Energy Efficiency Goals List All
St. Louis does not have an energy efficiency-related goal for its local government operations.
Stringency
N/A
Progress
N/A
Reporting
St. Louis publishes city government and community greenhouse gas emissions in its GHG inventory. St. Louis piloted the STAR community rating-system, which monitored local government sustainability initiatives, and the city holds annual Mayor’s Sustainability Summits that report on some efficiency-related initiatives for the city’s local government operations.
Last updated: April 2017
Procurement and Construction List All
Vehicle Fleets and Infrastructure
St. Louis does not have fuel efficiency requirements for the public fleet. St. Louis has a no-idling ordinance (Ordinance 68137) and telematics devices installed in 475 vehicles to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.
Note: For local fleet initiatives, policies listed must make a specific, mandatory requirement for increasing fleet efficiency. Local alternative-fuel vehicle procurement requirements that give a voluntary option to count efficient vehicles are thus not included.
Public Lighting
We could not confirm if St. Louis has adopted a policy requiring efficient outdoor lighting, such as the International Dark-Sky Association’s Model Lighting Ordinance. St. Louis is piloting three types of energy-efficient streetlight upgrades to determine which are the most reliable, efficient, and cost effective for future use.
New Buildings and Equipment
The Municipal LEED Standards Ordinance (Ordinance 67414) requires all new municipal construction and major renovations of more than 5,000 square feet to be built to LEED Silver standards. ENERGY STAR equipment is recommended for use by city departments, but departments are allowed to choose what to purchase.
Last updated: April 2017
Asset Management List All
Building Benchmarking and Retrofitting
St. Louis enters data in Portfolio Manager and pursues ENERGY STAR certification for all eligible municipal properties. The city also retrofits municipal buildings through the implementation of their commercial PACE program.
Public Employees
We could not find data on policies to reduce the commutes of city workers, such as flex schedules and teleworking policies.
Last updated: January 2017
Community-Wide Initiatives
Score: 5.5 out of 12 points
Community-Wide Summary List All
The Office of the Mayor primarily leads St. Louis’s implementation of its community-wide energy efficiency initiatives.
Last updated: January 2017
Community-Wide Energy Efficiency GoalsList All
St. Louis’s Sustainability Action Agenda sets specific goals to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. The city has not established community-wide energy goals. The Sustainability Action Agenda is an update required by the formally adopted St. Louis Sustainability Plan.
Per data released by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in 2016, the city is not currently on track to meet its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions target.
Last updated: January 2017
Efficient Distributed Energy Systems - District Energy and Combined Heat and PowerList All
The city offers a PACE financing program to help fund work that connects buildings to district energy systems.
Last updated: January 2017
Mitigation of Urban Heat Islands List All
The city’s Sustainability Action Agenda has an urban heat island mitigation goal to increase the number of trees planted by 16,000 or achieve an additional 15% of urban tree canopy cover.
We did not find information on any policies that require or incentivize low impact development (LID) or conservation of private land. The city does not have a private tree protection ordinance.
Last updated: January 2017
Buildings Policies
Score: 6 out of 28 points
Buildings Summary List All
St. Louis has some building sector initiatives to improve efficiency including financing for efficiency upgrades. The Building Division within the Department of Public Safety manages the building energy code compliance and enforcement for the City of St. Louis.
Last Updated: January 2017
Stringency of Energy CodesList All
The State of Missouri is home-ruled, and allows local jurisdictions to set their own building codes. To learn more about Missouri’s building energy codes, please visit the State Policy Database.
Commercial
The Energy Conservation Code of the City of St. Louis is based on the 2009 IECC for commercial buildings.
Residential
The Energy Conservation Code of the City of St. Louis is based on the 2009 IECC for residential buildings.
Last Updated: March 2017
Building Energy Code Enforcement and ComplianceList All
St. Louis does not have internal staff dedicated solely to energy code compliance. The city does not require building code officials to complete energy code training. The city has not made third-party plan review or performance testing mandatory for code compliance, nor has it established either as a voluntary code compliance option. The city does not provide upfront support to developers or owners for energy code compliance.
Last Updated: January 2017
Requirements and Incentives for Efficient Buildings List All
Green Building Requirements
Private commercial and residential buildings are not subject to green building requirements.
Energy Audit and Retrofit Requirements
St. Louis does not yet require commercial or residential buildings to take energy efficiency actions such as energy audits or retro-commissioning.
Incentives and Financing for Efficient Buildings
In 2016, the City of St. Louis launched the Green HELP program to assist residents with low-interest loans for making energy efficiency upgrades to their homes.
PACE financing is available for energy efficiency projects in residential and commercial buildings and incentives for energy efficiency measures are offered through the City's Energy Smart program.
Last Updated: February 2017
Energy & Water Utilities
Score: 7 out of 20 points
Energy & Water Utilities Summary List All
Ameren Missouri, formally Union Electric Co., is the primary electric utility serving the City of St. Louis. Laclede Gas, an investor-owned utility (IOU), is St. Louis’s primary natural gas utility. The State of Missouri requires all IOUs to capture all cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities. To learn more about the state requirements for electric and gas efficiency, please visit the Missouri page of the State Database.
The St. Louis Water Division is the municipal utility which provides drinking water services to St. Louis. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is the regional utility which treats the city’s wastewater and manages the stormwater.
Last Updated: January 2017
Electric & Gas Energy Efficiency Programs, Spending & SavingsList All
In 2015, according to Ameren Missouri, they achieved 460,562 MWh in net incremental savings, representing 1.28% of retail sales. To achieve these savings, Ameren Missouri spent $60,000,000 on electric efficiency programs in 2015, which equates to 1.87% of annual revenue. In 2015, Laclede Gas reported savings of 0.70 MMtherms from natural gas efficiency programs, representing 0.06% of its retail sales. To achieve these savings, Laclede Gas spent $1,941,998 on natural gas efficiency programs, which are normalized to $3.20 per residential customer. Spending on electricity and gas efficiency represented in this section covers the entire Missouri service territory, not just St. Louis. Ameren Missouri offers electric efficiency incentives and technical assistance to residential and commercial/industrial customers. Laclede Gas similarly offers natural gas efficiency programs to residential and business customers.
The City of St. Louis participates in the City Energy Project, and in 2016, the City Energy Project recognized St. Louis with an award to promote energy efficiency in large buildings. The City also partners with Ameren Missouri and Laclede Gas through Set the PACE St. Louis, an innovative program that uses PACE financing to help homeowners and commercial, industrial and multifamily property owners access affordable, long-term financing for smart energy upgrades to their buildings. In doing so, it publishes utility incentives and rebates on its website. Laclede Gas also works with city officials on planning future programs that will include residential energy efficiency financing.
Last Updated: January 2017
Low-Income & Multifamily EE Programs List All
Low-Income Programs
AmerenUE, in partnership with Laclede Gas, offers a Community Savers Rebate Program to qualified low-income residential customers. This program is available to rental properties with three or more units in the building that meet income qualifications. The program provides education and a variety of direct-install, no-cost, energy-saving measures including lighting fixtures, faucet aerators, thermostats, low-flow showerheads, and ENERGY STAR® refrigerators. The program is implemented in collaboration with the National Housing Trust. In 2015, according to AmerenUE, it achieved 4,700 MWh in energy savings from its low-income programs, while spending $3.4 million on its low-income efficiency portfolio. These programs served 5,200 low-income customers, with each household receiving an average of $654 and saving an average of 904 kWh.
Laclede Gas offers a Low-Income Weatherization Program. The program offers weatherization measures including weather-stripping, caulking, HVAC filter replacement, HVAC repair/replace, and low-flow faucet aerators and showerheads. The program partners with the Missouri Weatherization PAC, Committee to Keep Missourians Warm, Earthways, US Green Building Council, and Energy Efficiency for All. In 2015, according to Laclede Gas, it spent $1,420,424 on its low-income efficiency portfolio, and served 2,437 households, spending an average of $583 per participant. Energy savings were not available.
Multifamily Programs
Ameren Missouri offers the Multifamily Low-Income Program. The objective of this comprehensive program is to deliver long-term energy savings and bill reductions to low-income customers by delivering energy efficiency services to customers who are tenants, owners, and operators of multifamily low-income properties. This will be achieved through education and a variety of directly installed and incentivized energy-saving measures in tenant units, whole-building, and common area improvements. Laclede Gas does not offer energy efficiency programs targeted at multifamily properties.
Last Updated: June 2017
Provision of Energy Data by UtilitiesList All
In order for customers to access their energy data, Ameren Missouri makes use of the Green Button data sharing platform. Laclede Gas provides their customers with access to their energy use data through the “Customer Connection” web portal. Currently, neither Laclede Gas nor Ameren Missouri provide building owners or managers with automatic benchmarking data for use in Portfolio Manager. Neither Ameren Missouri nor Laclede Gas provide community-wide aggregate-level electricity usage information to the City of St. Louis. At this point, the City of St. Louis does not advocate to the state for improvements in data provision by the utilities.
Last Updated: January 2017
Efficiency Efforts in Water ServicesList All
Water Efficiency
The City of St. Louis’s Water Division and the energy utilities do not offer joint water or energy efficiency programs. At this point, the City of St. Louis Water Division does not have a goal to reduce water usage nor does it offer water conservation rebates or incentives to city residents.
Energy Efficiency and Self-Generation
There is currently no goal established for saving energy through the municipal water system operations. The city’s water system does not self-generate its own energy.
Green Stormwater Infrastructure
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has a CSO Volume Reduction Green Infrastructure Program, which has completed its pilot stage. The program will fund $100 million of green infrastructure improvements by 2034. Based on the experienced gained through the Pilot stage of the program, the program will advance to a full-scale program.
Last Updated: January 2017
Transportation
Score: 9 of out 30 points
Transportation Summary List All
The transportation authority serving the City of St. Louis is The Bi-State Development Agency. The Agency also provides the public transportation for the city and the broader metropolitan area, including bus and light rail service. The East-West Gateway Council of Governments is the MPO in charge of conducting metropolitan transportation planning. Its area of jurisdiction encompasses St. Louis and many cities and counties in both Missouri and Illinois. The Department of Highways and Traffic is the county agency charged with managing the city’s transportation network.
Last updated: January 2017
Location Efficiency List All
St. Louis’s Ordinance 69199 was adopted in 2012 and creates a new form-based overlay district to be incorporated into a St. Louis zoning code. The city allows one or more parking spaces per residential unit. St. There are no incentives available through the city to promote location efficiency.
Last updated: January 2017
Mode Shift List All
Modal Share Targets
St. Louis has not yet developed targets to promote a modal shift in transportation.
Car and Bicycle Sharing
There are three car sharing programs currently available to the residents and visitors of St. Louis, WeCar, Zipcar, and enterprise CarShare. There is currently a bike sharing service under consideration in St. Louis.
Complete Streets
Louis adopted its complete streets policy in 2010, through Board Bill No. 7 and codified as Ordinance 69440. The adoption of the guidelines encourages the inclusion of accommodation for bicycle, vehicular, equestrian, and pedestrian travel through the major arteries of St. Louis.
Last updated: January 2017
Transit List All
The transit system that serves St. Louis has received $301,449,894 in average annual funding from 2011-2015. This funding level is $107.22 per resident in the service territory of the agency, putting it in the fourth highest category (100-149) available in the City Scorecard.
The Transit Connectivity Index measures transit service levels. It is based on the number of bus routes and train stations within walking distance for households scaled by frequency of service. St. Louis’ Transit Connectivity Index value is 23, putting it in the third highest category (15-29) available in the City Scorecard.
Last updated: January 2017
Efficient VehiclesList All
At this time, St. Louis does not offer incentives for citizens to purchase hybrid, plug-in, or EV vehicles. There are no incentives available for the construction of EV charging infrastructure. The city has 12 EV charging stations available for public use.
Last updated: January 2017
Freight List All
Sustainable freight plan
OneSTL outlines strategies to facilitate freight movement.
Smart freight
We could not confirm if St. Louis employs an internet-based application or service to coordinate freight transport.
Last updated: January 2017
Sustainable Transportation Planning List All
St. Louis’ Sustainability Plan calls for the improvement of energy efficiency in the transportation sector. Strategies outlined include equitable access to transportation and pilot transportation improvement districts.
Last updated: January 2017
Low-Income in Transit-Oriented Development Areas List All
St. Louis does not have any requirements or incentives in place to encourage the development or preservation of affordable housing in transit-served areas.
Last updated: January 2017