Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Trenton, NJ

CONTACT:
Randall Solomon 732-932-5475 x 695
Fred Profeta 

William G. Dressel, Jr.
Executive Director, NJLM
609-695-3481 x 122

Mayors Committee for a Green Future Issues
Guidance for Towns to ‘Buy Green,’ Save Energy 

Green Future Roadmap Will Help Communities with Green Initiatives

New Brunswick, NJ – The first two "tools" of an initiative to help local leaders address sustainability in their communities -- how to “buy green” and how to conduct energy audits --  have been released by the Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future. Over 100 mayors and municipal representatives are expected to be in attendance to learn how to use the tools and discuss next steps for greening New Jersey communities. The release of the tools is the first step in creating a New Jersey Green Future Roadmap, a collection of tools, policies and programs to help municipalities become green and sustainable.

The initial two tools are Green Purchasing to help municipalities “buy green,” and Energy Audits, to help municipalities reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and identify cost savings through retro-fits and conservation for municipal and school buildings and facilities.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJLM) created the mayors’ committee with a mission to “Make New Jersey green, one municipality at a time." The ultimate goal is to recognize “green communities” - those communities that adopt, support, and implement a specified set of sustainability initiatives.

“Many communities are looking for ways to address issues such as global climate change at the municipal level,” said Fred Profeta, Maplewood’s deputy mayor for the environment and co-chair of the mayors’ committee. “The Green Future Roadmap will provide easy-to-use tools that any municipality can implement.”

“It has been estimated that as much as 60 percent of sustainability efforts will need to be addressed at a local level,’” said William G. Dressel Jr., Executive Director, New Jersey State League of Municipalities.  “The Green Future Roadmap will provide the guidance needed so communities can take action at the local level. This project has the wholehearted support of the League.”

Highland Park Mayor Meryl Frank said, “We are providing simple, easy to implement, steps on how to become a green community that busy mayors and municipal officials can use. A lot of these steps save money and are not hard to implement. We just want to make it as easy as possible for towns to move forward and do the right thing.”

Randall Solomon, Executive Director of the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute said “Given New Jersey’s reputation, I think people around the country would be surprised at the tremendous amount of energy in New Jersey communities on sustainability and greening issues. This effort will help transform all of that energy into a tangible progress. It will help New Jersey grow along a more sustainable path, and also make us a national leader on issues such as climate change, energy and water conservation, green building, and a host of other issues.”

Additional tools will be released on a regular basis throughout 2008. The full suite of tools, criteria, and incentives will be released at the League’s 2008 Annual Convention in Atlantic City in November.

The Green Future Roadmap is being created for the Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future by the Municipal Land Used Center at The College of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute at the Edward J. Bloustein School, Rutgers University with support from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, The Rutgers Center for Green Building, and the NJ League of Municipalities.  Funding for the project is provided by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Office of Smart Growth.

For additional information:

Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future                http://www.njslom.org/Green_Future_committee.html
Green Future Roadmap                                           http://njssi.org/projects.asp?Level2ItemID=60