WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) presented the second annual Climate and Energy Leadership Awards to the City of Takoma Park, Frederick County, Community Power Network, and Nextility for their outstanding efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. The awards recognize and encourage local actions to advance the regional climate and energy goals established by leaders at COG.

The awards were distributed at the October 2015 COG Board of Directors Meeting by Montgomery County Councilmember and COG Climate, Energy, and Environment Policy Committee (CEEPC) Chairman Roger Berliner and COG’s Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee (ACPAC) Chair Glenna Tinney.

City of Takoma Park
The City of Takoma Park is recognized with a 2015 Climate and Energy Leadership Award in the Small/Medium Community Category for its Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). Actions underway include the solar co-op, streetlight LED conversion pilot, the Neighborhood Energy Challenge, and Green Home Certification. The City’s initiatives thus far have resulted in annual reductions of 293 metric tons of CO2 (MT-CO2). It would take 7,513 seedling trees growing for 10 years to achieve the same level of CO2 reduction by sequestration.  The SEAP has a total potential reduction of 140,000 MT-CO2 by 2030.

Frederick County
Frederick County is recognized with a 2015 Climate and Energy Leadership Award in the Large Community Category for the Frederick County Green Homes Challenge (GHC). The GHC is a three-part Certification Program that helps residents save energy, use renewable energy, and engage in environmentally friendly practices. Having registered 1,647 challenge takers and 744 self-certifications, this program incorporates incentives and behavior change strategies to drive measurable actions. As of June 2015, collective actions resulted in mitigation of more than 9,000 MT-CO2, the equivalent of more than 800 homes’ energy use for one year.

Community Power Network
Community Power Network (CPN) is recognized with a 2015 Climate and Energy Leadership Award in the Nonprofit Category for its grassroots solar co-op initiatives across the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. CPN partners with local community organizations to help neighbors purchase and install solar together at a cost that averages 20 percent less than an individual installation. CPN has launched 37 solar co-ops since 2007 that have resulted in 599 installed systems and over 3 megawatts of solar capacity. This equates to a reduction of 2,500 MT-CO2 annually or switching out over 65,000 incandescent lamps to CFLs.

Nextility
Nextility is recognized with a 2015 Climate and Energy Leadership Award in the Private Sector Category for their fully financed, price indexed Solar Electric and Hot Water Program. In partnership with the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility, Nextility has implemented commercial-scale projects that total more than 400 kilowatts from solar photovoltaic systems and over 3.8 million therms for solar water heating. These projects offset more than 30,931 MT-CO2 total or 1,031 MT-CO2 annually. This equates to taking 217 cars off the road each year.

Learn more about the Climate and Energy Leadership Awards.