Making DuPage a Cool County

Although not mentioned in the article DuPage County Board Member Laurie Nowak District 6 is on the Environmental Committee and has done much work on the Cool County Initiative. Laurie spoke at the summit as well. Very proud of my colleague.

The Naperville Sun reports the following

If local activists have anything to say about it, DuPage County is in for a cool spell.

Success will depend on the participation of myriad sectors, from corporations to neighborhoods, nonprofits to governmental agencies.

That proposition was the basis of the 2014 DuPage Energy Summit, held recently at the Hotel Arista in far northwest Naperville. Titled “Making DuPage a Cool County: A plan for energy and economic stability,” the event drew business people, environmental advocates, residents and others with an interest in the effort to improve local air quality by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The DuPage effort is well underway.

When DuPage officials took on the Sierra Club’s Cool Counties challenge in September 2012, they established a target of decreasing countywide greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from 2007 levels by 2020, and 20 percent by 2030.

“It’s a pretty audacious goal, but I think it’s a very achievable goal,” said summit organizer Brook McDonald, chairman of the Green Government Council and president and CEO of the Conservation Foundation, headquartered in Naperville.

You can read the complete story here.