Sustainable Jersey An Introduction€¦ · NJEA, NJDOH • $5,600,000 in 10 years • Priority in NJ DEP – Community Forestry Grants. Sustainable Jersey provides funding to local
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Sustainable Jersey An Introduction @SJ_Program | #DecadeofImpact
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program with 3 key components, designed specifically for municipalities in New Jersey.
• Identifies actions to help towns become more sustainable
• Provides tools, resources, and guidance to make progress
• Provides access to grants and funding for municipalities
@SJ_Program | #DecadeofImpact
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Sustainable Jersey’s goal is to make a better tomorrow, one community at a time.
@SJ_Program | #DecadeofImpact
Participating Communities
• Program start: February 2009
• 455 (81%) NJ municipalities participating
• 89% of NJ’s population lives in these communities
• 205 municipalities certified:
• 151 towns at bronze level
• 53 towns at silver level
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The Sustainable Jersey network is stronger than ever. Since the program’s start in 2009, 79% of NJ towns (across all 21 counties) are registered and working on sustainability programs. 89% of NJ’s population live in these communities (NOTE: This figure changes often. Visit the Sustainable Jersey homepage to get the current number of registered towns. To adjust the percentage, divide the number of registered towns by 565, the total number of municipalities in NJ) This is the screenshot of the participating communities. Blue indicates “registered,” orange indicates “bronze”, and gray indicates “silver” Talk about the web site: On-Line Community Profiles for Certified Municipalities; Searchable Map Lists Registered and Certified Search for Municipalities Implementing Specific Actions Search in Specific Areas View certified actions documents
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What kind of future do we want?
Students help the Mount Holly Green Team create a rain garden
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Sustainability is one of those words that can be overused and vague. Some people don’t like it because it seems to mean a lot of different things depending on who you talk to. Often, it’s equated with how we make use of natural resources – choosing fuel efficient cars, for example, instead of gas guzzlers, or installing solar panels on our buildings and homes. But the “sustainable” in Sustainable Jersey is about something much larger than just a focus on energy efficiency and green design choices; it also encompasses a concern for health and wellness, diversity and equity, access to fresh food, support of the local economy, arts and culture, stewardship of the land, animal welfare, and long term, environmentally-sensitive community planning.
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Components of Sustainability
PEOPLE
PROSPERITY
PLANET
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Sustainable Jersey recognizes that there are many qualities that make a community the kind of place where you want to live and that your town has its own unique priorities and faces its own individual challenges. Sustainable Jersey encompasses the 3 equal, interrelated components of sustainability: Prosperity-support your local economy and use community resources Planet-practice responsible environmental management and conservation People-embrace social equity and fairness
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Actions: Prosperity, Planet, People
• Municipalities choose from the menu of 150+ actions to accumulate the required points
• Actions created by 19 issue-based Task Forces
• Task Forces comprised of relevant experts, local leaders, state and federal agencies, and stakeholders
• Task Forces meet regularly to add and amend actions
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Each of the Sustainable Jersey actions that towns do to become certified are divided into the Prosperity, Planet and People categories. Each action comes with a fully resourced tool which includes: What is it? Why is it important? Who should be involved? How long will it take and what will it cost? In addition, there are resources in the tools themselves. And a “spotlight” section on successful communities. Each town chooses its own priorities from the menu of actions; some towns may be more concerned with transportation issues, for example, and storm water management, while others are focused on arts and culture and animal welfare issues. Sustainable Jersey also awards points for innovation, when towns create projects that aren’t part of the current menu of actions, as well as points for cooperating on projects and planning with other towns. The technical content of the program’s actions are developed with the help of 19 task forces that comprise New Jersey state local officials, experts, non-profit groups, and members of the business community. Recommended best practices/actions are vetted with local government officials.
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Certification Steps
1. Pass a resolution; register municipality online
2. Form Green Team
3. Implement actions to score 150/350 points
4. Submit documentary evidence for each action
5. Certification awarded after review and verification
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It’s easy to get started. The only “required” action – to pass a municipal resolution and begin to assemble a Green Team. 1) Review Tools and Resources; 2) Pass a resolution to form a Green Team and decide which level you’d like to achieve. A sample resolution can be downloaded from the web site: www.sustainablejersey.com, 3) Register your municipality online and name your point persons, 4) Implement actions, 5) Upload documents associated with the completed actions on the secure website, 6) Certification awarded after review and verification of application materials.
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Priority Actions
Climate Adaptation: Flooding Risk
Diversity on Boards & Commissions
Energy Tracking & Management
Energy Efficiency for Municipal Facilities
Fleet Inventory
Green Business Recognition Program
Municipal Carbon Footprint
Natural Resources Inventory
Prescription Drug Safety & Disposal
Recycling and Waste Reduction Education and Compliance
Sustainable Land Use Pledge
Water Conservation Ordinance
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Examples of Cost Saving Actions
• Energy Audits for Municipal Buildings
• Green Fleets
• Energy Inventory and Upgrade /Energy Star Portfolio Manager
• Solar Demonstration Project
• Waste Audit of Municipal Buildings/Schools
• Minimize Water Consumption Edison Township Hybrid For Municipal Work
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Is your town looking for cost savings in energy, water and garbage bills? Here are five sample actions that can help your community improve efficiency and cut waste.
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Programs to Save Money and Energy
BPU Clean Energy Programs:
• Home Performance with Energy Star
• Energy Efficient Products
• Direct Install
• Pay for Performance
• Clean Power Choice
• Local Government Energy Audit
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New Jersey's Clean Energy Program is a statewide program that offers financial incentives, programs and services for New Jersey residents, business owners and local governments to help them save energy, money and the environment. Direct Install Direct Install is a program designed to reduce a facility’s energy costs by replacing lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and other outdated operational equipment with energy efficiency alternatives. The program pays up to 70% of retrofit costs, which improves the payback on the project. There is a $75,000 incentive cap on each project. Pay for Performance Pay for Performance is a comprehensive energy efficiency program that provides incentives towards whole-building energy improvements. The Existing Buildings component includes buildings with a peak demand in excess of 100 kW in any of the preceding twelve months. Towns and schools can save 15% or more on the energy consumption in their buildings with the help of BPU’s approved partners while receiving incentives along the way. Local Government Energy Audit An energy audit is an analysis of a building or facility, which indicates how and where that building can reduce energy consumption and save energy costs. The Local Government Energy Audit program provides qualifying participants with an investment grade buildings’ audit and subsidizes 100% of the cost of the audit. This program is available to qualifying school districts. Free Energy Benchmarking Benchmarking is a process for evaluating the energy use performance of buildings. This service is currently available free of charge to qualifying K-12 schools and municipalities.
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Certification Requirements
150
• Total of at least 150 points• Mandatory Green Team• Implement 2 of 12 priority actions• Actions completed in 6 of 18
categories
350
• Total of at least 350 points• Mandatory Green Team• Implement 3 of 12 priority actions• Actions completed in 8 of 18
Sustainable Jersey offers free trainings, workshops and networking events to help local governments and Green Teams pursue sustainability programs. Visit the Sustainable Jersey events/trainings web page to see all of the upcoming workshops and networking events. Networking Events: These event are more informal, usually in the evening that allow participants to meet their peers to discuss sustainability issues and have fun.
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Incentives and Grants
• Over $100 Million in Leveraged Public and Private Funds
• Sustainable Jersey & Sustainable Jersey for Schools Grants Funded by GardinierEnvironmental Fund, PSEG, Walmart, NJEA, NJDOH
• $5,600,000 in 10 years
• Priority in NJ DEP – Community Forestry Grants
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Sustainable Jersey provides funding to local governments for sustainability projects. To date, $4,900,000 million has been awarded through the Sustainable Jersey Grants program.
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Over 1,000 Municipal & School Projects Funded
• Electric vehicle charging stations
• Wind turbines
• School food composting
• City-wide Buy Local initiative
• Edible school gardens
• Water conservation education
• Model green ordinances
• Municipal and community
carbon footprints
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Over 1,000 grants have been given to New Jersey municipalities and schools representing all 21 counties for sustainability projects to make communities more livable, environmentally friendly and prosperous. This is just a partial list of some of the many projects that the Sustainable Jersey grants have funded.
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Awards and Promotion
Irvington achieves Sustainable Jersey certificationCreativity & Innovation Award goes
to New Brunswick City
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Municipalities are honored at the annual Sustainable Jersey luncheon at the New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference. Annual Sustainable Jersey awards are bestowed on those who earn the most points and those towns that excel in innovation, leadership, collaboration and creativity. Sustainable Jersey towns are promoted on our website, in our publications, in the media and at promotional events. Towns that are certified are provided with a customized Sustainable Jersey logo that can be used on the towns promotional materials.
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Certification Benefits
• Save money. Get money.
• Implement actions that lead to cost savings(energy, water, garbage bills)
• Improve efficiency, cut waste, stimulate local economy
• Access to incentives and grants
• Gain access to training, tools and expert guidance.
• Get recognized. Promote your town.
• Conserve valuable resources. Protect the environment.
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Just to recap – here are a few of the certification benefits. Save money. Get money. Sustainable Jersey includes actions that can help you improve efficiency and cut waste. Gain access to training, tools and expert guidance. Get recognized. Promote your town. Conserve valuable resources. Protect the environment.
Sustainable Jersey Supporters & Sponsors
PLATINUM
SILVER
BRONZE
Grants Program
Corporate Sponsors
GOLD
Program Underwriters
Sustainable Jersey for Schools Supporters & Sponsors
Sustainable Jersey sends out weekly e-alerts, and a quarterly e-newsletter. The alerts are full of Sustainable Jersey and state wide events and funding opportunities. Everything is on the Web site, that is a good place to start.
