On October 30th, the City of Kent’s Sustainability Coordinator, Julie Morris, held the third Climate Action Plan (CAP) Series which informed residents about energy efficiency. She talked about the steps the City is taking to reduce their carbon footprint and highlighted programs available to residents to help them take efficiency measures in their own homes. Julie also provided a list of federal Clean Energy Tax Credits available from 2023 to 2032 for consumers who purchase eligible equipment to make their homes more efficient. Click hereto see the list.
The City of Kent recently completed facility energy audits for all the City of Kent’s buildings for the year 2022 by working with World Kinect (through a grant from NOPEC). Julie noted that the Police Department is a LEED Silver building and is fairly energy efficient. But even there, a few action items suggested, as there were for all the buildings. City Council then decided to focus on four of the buildings. For a list of the detailed facility energy audit data for all 4 buildings, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
World Kinect then put the City in touch with a program at the Cleveland Partnership that paid for an American Society of Health and Refrigeration Engineers (ASHRE II) Audits of four city buildings. These ASHRE II audits are necessary to apply for federal funding and many grants. For a summary list of the auditors’ suggestions for Energy Conservation Measures and the potential savings that implementing those measures could provide for each of the buildings, click here and scroll down to page three. (Note: if you continue scrolling, pages 5 to 10 will describe where you can donate unwanted items and highlights two local sustainability oriented stores.)
City Council has decided to focus on obtaining funding for two buildings to start with: The Fire S Executive Director, Community Action Council of Portage County. Station #1 (downtown) and the City’s Vehicle Maintenance Facility.
Then David Shea, Executive Director, Community Action Council of Portage County, spoke about their programs to connect people to efficiency and home repair. While he encouraged eligible people to apply for their programs, he lamented about the rising costs for improvements, the difficulty finding craftsmen to carry them out, and the lack of sufficient funding. Some new federal funding from the IRA is pending, but we are waiting for Ohio to figure out how to implement the programs here.
To sign up for the Sustainable Kent News, click hesre or email Julie Morris at Julie.Morris@KentOhio.gov. Julie can also be reached for questions at 330-678-8108.
The City of Kent is working to connect neighborhoods to destinations in our region with additional choices for how people can get from their homes to where they’d like to go, including the option of not using a car.
Ted has been researching the environmental, social, and economic impacts of oil and 
The Portage Park District Foundation is seeking nominations for potential awardees to be honored at the April 22nd Environmental Awards dinner at the American Legion Hall in Kent.. Nominations should include the nominee’s name and contact information, along with a paragraph or two describing his/her/their contribution to environmental conservation in Portage County.