Truckee residents celebrate their town's commitment to clean energy.
On November 29, the Sierra Nevada town of Truckee, California, became the 50th U.S. city to announce a commitment to 100 percent clean energy as part of the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign. (The U.S. census defines any locale outside an urban area with 2,500 or more residents as a city.) The Truckee Town Council adopted a resolution to move to all-renewable electricity town-wide by 2030, and all energy sources by 2050.
“Truckee’s commitment to 100 percent clean energy –- including electricity, heating, and transportation –- is good for our community and our planet,” said Truckee mayor Morgan Goodwn (above at center). “Our town is on the front lines of climate change and we understand how serious this is. Reducing our emissions will create jobs and long-term economic stability as we uphold our responsibility as stewards of the environment.”
Truckee Mayor Morgan Goodwin signs the clean energy resolution.
With a population of about 16,500, Truckee is the second-largest town in the Lake Tahoe Basin after South Lake Tahoe (population 22,000), which made the commitment to 100 percent clean energy earlier this year. The Lake Tahoe area supports 16 ski resorts, making it one of the densest clusters of ski areas in the world. So it is very much in Truckee’s and South Lake Tahoe’s economic interest to clamp down on climate change in hopes of spurring ample winter snowfalls. (Last winter brought a respite from a parching 6-year drought, but snow totals are already well below average in the Sierra Nevada this season.)
Truckee residents listen to the proceedings in the Town Council chambers.
“The solutions to climate change are here, now,” asserted Jeremy Jones (below), professional snowboarder and founder of the non-profit Protect Our Winters. “Success doesn’t have to be an uphill battle; it is empowering places like my hometown of Truckee to decide whether to power itself on clean, renewable energy, or carbo- intensive fossil fuels. We’re excited to see Truckee standing with mountain towns across the country in recognizing that fighting climate change goes hand in hand with protecting their tourism and outdoor recreation economies."
Jeremy Jones in the Truckee Town Council chambers.
Truckee’s announcement comes on the heels of a new report issued by the Ready for 100 campaign showcasing ten U.S. cities that have recently set ambitious clean-energy goals, and outlining the steps those communities are taking to meet them. In Florida, Orlando's commitment to renewable energy earlier this year is influencing the search for a new utility CEO who will lead the energy transformation off coal and gas and onto solar energy. On the opposite coast, Portland General Electric in Oregon is proposing 39 MW of new energy storage over the next seven years, citing the 100 percent renewable energy goals of Portland and Multnomah County. The utility also canceled plans for new gas plants.
Salt Lake City made the 100 clean energy commitment last year, and its mayor, Jackie Bikupski, is a co-chair of Mayors for 100% Clean Energy. “Cities like Salt Lake City and Truckee are sending a message that we care about the health and prosperity of the people in our communities,” she said in response to Truckee’s action on Wednesday. Clean energy is the future, and cities that make the investment today are not only helping to protect the environment, they are positioning themselves to be the economic and social powerhouses of tomorrow.”
Downtown Truckee. Photo by Finetooth, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
“We’re proud to work with cities like Truckee that recognize the many impacts on the local economy and environment that climate change will bring,” said Jenny Hatch, executive director of the Sierra Nevada Alliance. “Our model for our Regional Climate Change Program is to be a facilitator of creating community climate coalitions for this goal that work with their community decision makers and energy users to pledge to go 100 percent renewable. Through a ripple of communities going 100 percent renewable across the Sierra Nevada we will make a big difference.”
Collectively, the 50 cities that have taken the Ready for 100 pledge represent about three percent of the nation’s population and account for more than two percent of domestic electricity consumption. “These commitments have already begun to influence utility planning and decision-making around the country,” says Ready for 100 campaign director Jodie Van Horn. “As the Trump administration turns its back on clean air and water, local leaders in cities and towns will move our country forward toward clean-renewable energy for all.”
Check out the full list of cities and towns that have made the commitment to 100 percent clean energy.
All photographs by Laura Comer/Sierra Club except where noted.