Recognizing Wednesday, October 7, 2020 as Energy Efficiency Day in the City of Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, Energy efficiency continues to be the cheapest, quickest, and cleanest way to meet our energy needs and reduce utility bills for residential, business, and industrial customers; and

WHEREAS, Energy efficiency can also make our homes and workspaces healthier, safer, and more comfortable; and

WHEREAS, Smarter energy use reduces the amount of electricity we need to power our lives, which helps avoid power plant emissions that can harm our health - especially the health of our most vulnerable populations, pollute our air, and warm our climate; and

WHEREAS, Cutting energy waste saves U.S. consumers billions of dollars on their utility bills every year, up to $500 per household from appliance efficiency standards alone; and

WHEREAS, Implementing energy efficiency and other clean energy policies and programs can help boost economic opportunities and job creation while continuing to move toward a sustainable future; and

WHEREAS, More than 2.4 million Americans were working in the energy efficiency sector prior to the pandemic in local, good-paying, clean energy jobs that couldn’t be outsourced and increasing America’s recovery efforts by ramping up our efficiency efforts will sustain and create more of them; and

WHEREAS, To achieve its goal of reducing City operations’ energy use 20 percent by 2030, the City of Philadelphia is actively pursuing LED streetlighting, a retrofit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, active building monitoring, and other efficiency upgrades to municipal buildings and services; and

WHEREAS, To cut citywide carbon pollution 80 percent by 2050, the City of Philadelphia is launching its Building Energy Performance Policy to reduce energy use in large commercial buildings; and

WHEREAS, Commercial Property Accessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing is enabled in Philadelphia and actively providing capital for buildings to conduct energy efficiency upgrades; and

WHEREAS, Multifamily residential buildings in Philadelphia have new financing opportunities through the Philadelphia Energy Authority that will support their energy efficiency efforts; and

WHEREAS, A nationwide network of energy efficiency groups and partners has designated the first Wednesday in October as the fifth national annual Energy Efficiency Day; and

WHEREAS, Together the residents of Philadelphia can continue to contribute to our sustainability efforts by learning more about energy efficiency and practicing smarter energy use in their daily lives; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, by the Council of the City of Philadelphia, That it hereby recognizes Wednesday, October 7, 2020, Energy Efficiency Day in the City of Philadelphia.

End