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Federal Resources for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change
February 2020
In February 2020, the Environmental and Energy Study Initiative released the Federal Resources for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change fact sheet, which outlines programs that support nature-based solutions to increase human, ecosystem, and infrastructure resilience to the impacts of climate change. The fact sheet surveys a list of 13 different federal funding and technical assistance programs available to aid in implementing nature-based projects, including those that support: green infrastructure; natural infrastructure; urban focus; habitat restoration; flood prevention; water quality; pollution abatement; and disaster mitigation.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Savannah Bertrand, Katie Schneer
Resource Category: Funding
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New Jersey EO 100: Protecting Against Climate Threats (PACT); land use regulations and permitting
January 27, 2020
New Jersey Governor Murphy’s Executive Order No. 100, also known as PACT, is designed to help New Jersey both mitigate greenhouse gases, and adapt to climate change. The order directs the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to make regulatory reforms for permitting development or construction at risk of the impacts of climate change. New projects will be required to take into account how climate change could impact the project, and the project's related GHG emissions. The rules would also apply to the construction of state-funded projects.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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The Energy Democracy Scorecard and Flipbook
January 2020
According to the Energy Democracy Scorecard and Flipbook from the Emerald Cities Collaborative, “Energy Democracy” is defined as an ideal scenario where a frontline community “shifts completely away from an extractive economy, energy, and governance system to one that is regenerative, provides reparations, transforms the power structures, and creates new governance and ownership practices. ” The Energy Democracy Flipbook is designed to help frontline communities, such as low-income people of color, who are vulnerable to climate change to self-evaluate their communities’ energy economy condition.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Anthony Giancatarino, Donna House
Resource Category: Education and Outreach
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Baltimore Shines - Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore Shines is a Baltimore City initiative that helps low-income residents access solar energy through either rooftop installations or community solar projects in Baltimore, Maryland. The program also expands workforce development opportunities in the solar installation industry. Baltimore Shines pilot projects were used to learn about barriers preventing solar installation in low-income communities and to inform the development of a sustainable financing model to increase access to solar energy. As the initial step to teaching energy affordability awareness, Baltimore Shines had community residents’ homes retrofitted by its close affiliate, Civic Works, which installed energy and water conservation equipment in homes. This program was not income restricted and is open to any Baltimore City homeowner or tenant residing in a house or apartment. Baltimore Shines also incorporated the development of workforce opportunities for underemployed and unemployed Baltimore residents through job-training and job placement. Additionally, Baltimore Shines leveraged a state funding program - the Maryland Community Solar Pilot program - that supported investments in renewable energy projects benefiting low- and moderate- income customers and encouraged private investment in the state’s solar industry with incentives for the investors. The program ultimately lowered bills, increased wages for some of the City’s low-income, under-employed or unemployed residents, and enhanced access to solar for many throughout the city.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project
The Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) was established through funding from the U.S. Government’s Office of Economic Opportunity in the 1960s. The Project helps low-income rural communities in the mid-Atlantic and the Southeastern U.S. obtain water and wastewater infrastructure for running water, indoor plumbing, and wastewater treatment. Water utilities in these rural areas often lack funding to provide such infrastructure. Households that are not supplied with drinking water tend to rely on wells and septic tanks, which can get contaminated by pollution from agricultural activity and the lack of suitable wastewater treatment. SERCAP assists both individuals and municipalities, and its services include installing infrastructure, providing financing and loans, and offering technical support. In addition to providing services related to water, SERCAP also provides support on housing issues.
Resource Category: Organizations
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Buffalo, New York Medical Microgrid - NY Prize
Microgrid projects selected for funding through the NYSERDA NY Prize competition, including a project serving the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, demonstrate how states can fund microgrid pilot projects and evaluate the resilience benefits delivered by these types of projects. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) secured $1 million in funding from the New York Energy and Research Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) NY Prize to deploy a microgrid project to serve vital medical facilities in Buffalo, New York. The project covers nine health care, life science research, and education facilities including New York’s only freestanding pediatric health facility. The project also serves portions of the adjacent Fruit Belt low income residential neighborhood, which shares common electric infrastructure with the medical campus. BNMC’s proposal emphasized the importance of enabling the health and cancer research facilities to maintain 100 percent service quality during extended power interruptions. The proposal also stressed engaging with surrounding communities to identify priority investment areas, building on existing neighborhood assets by planning a multipurpose community center, advancing a collaborative workforce development strategy, and establishing a land bank program for example. The proposal used the Industrial Economics, Inc. (IEc) model to evaluate the costs and benefits of the microgrid project for critical services. The state of New York created the competition to spur microgrid development in light of climate change impacts, and called for a variety for microgrid designs involving Combined Heat and Power (CHP), renewables, energy storage, alternative fuel/generation, and controllable loads. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus microgrid project was selected for funding as part of an initiative to upgrade and redevelop the campus and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Resource Category: Solutions
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FDOT Resilience Quick Guide: Incorporating Resilience in the MPO Long Range Transportation Plan
January 2020
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) produced this Resilience Quick Guide (guide) in January 2020 to provide concise guidance to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) on best practices for integrating resilience into long-range transportation plans. The guide notes that Florida's regions are challenged by extreme events and changing conditions including inland flooding, sea-level rise, more frequent and severe storm events, worsening drought, fires, and more - all of which can affect transportation facilities and systems and result in other social and economic impacts.
Resource Category: Planning
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Lac du Flambeau Climate Change Resilience Initiative
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians have developed the Climate Change Resilience Initiative incorporating traditional knowledge and western science to better understand how the land, waters, species and resources have been and will be affected by climate change. The Initiative is built around the greater goal of protecting minobimadiziiwin (culture and way of life) and the economy of the Waswagoning (Lac du Flambeau) community for the next seven generations. Four climate related plans were developed by the Lac du Flambeau including an Energy Reduction Plan, Hazard Mitigation Plan, Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, and a Climate Change Adaptation Plan.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resilient Infrastructure for New York State
December 19, 2019
This report from Rebuild By Design describes a proposal to create a Resilient Infrastructure Fund to support green and grey infrastructure projects that reduce flooding, coupled with a buy-out program, to improve the physical, social, and ecological resilience of New York State. It proposes a transparent, inclusive, and equitable approach to finance climate adaptation planning and implementation throughout the state. Though designed for New York, the recommendations are applicable to and can serve as a model for other states.
Resource Category: Solutions
