Climate Year Review: 2019

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(January 19, 2020) It’s hard to imagine what this radio show would be like without meteorologist Rick DiMaio. He has been my go-to guy for a dozen years. He reports on weather. He reports on climate. He puts both into perspective. He connects them to everyday life. He’s not afraid of taking controversial positions. And he’s here this morning for Climate Year Review: 2019.

But this show segment wasn’t his idea. Or mine. In September of last year, Peggy and I talked about and then appeared at the 2019 Green Team Summit, presented by Faith in Place. While we were at our table, talking to dozens of wonderful people concerned with making environmental change in the world, up walked John Lee. He, Rick DiMaio and I attended a Wisconsin football game against Northwestern not long ago.

They are Wisconsin alums. As I recall, it did not end well for Wisconsin that day. However, I am a Michigan alum. Things have not ended well for my tribe for a couple of decades. Just sayin’.

Anyway, in December of 2019, I received an email from John.

A few weeks ago I met up with Rick DiMaio to watch a Badger’s game and I mentioned that we briefly discussed your suggestion of having both of us on your show to discuss the meteorological, legal, etc. aspects of climate change. He said he would be up for it. I would, too, if you’re still interested.

Uh…yeah?…If that’s okay with you? Can we do it tomorrow?

So, following a the second hottest year on record, one that featured concerning destruction of Chicago’s lakeshore and catastrophic fires in Australia , we bring in Rick DiMaio and John Lee to discuss the sociological, legal and climatological implications of Climate Year Review: 2019.

But that’s the second hour. We start with

How to help cities fund infrastructure upgrades

This Illinois company says it’s through long-term savings on energy costs. Leopardo is a national construction company that’s based in Hoffman Estates, IL, offering general contracting, construction management and design-build approaches to commercial and municipal projects since 1977. According to the company’s website, they have extensive project experience in LEED and WELL sustainable building practices to create healthy and high-performing building spaces.

Joining us in the studio this morning to explain this innovative approach to project financing is Curtis Leopardo, president of the Leopardo Energy division, which

… collaborates with municipalities and other organizations to renew facilities while simultaneously increasing energy efficiency and decreasing energy costs—all without the need for new capital expenditures. Through comprehensive energy audits, identifying improvements to save energy, addressing deferred maintenance issues, analyzing existing financial conditions and identifying fleet operations options, Leopardo develops energy saving performance contracts (ESPCs) that create self-funding projects and provide clients with a comprehensive set of energy efficient, renewable energy and distributed generation measures.

The company says this approach is a “guaranteed” way for a community to be able to borrow funds for their project, make efficiency upgrades and retrofits, and pay back the project debt through realized savings in subsequent energy costs end efficiencies. In other words, the resulting money saved/regained from more efficient energy usage after the retrofits and upgrades are in place will more than cover the payback of the project’s loans.

Leopardo Energy already launched two municipal projects using this concept, one in Hammond, IN and the other in North Royalton, OH. The completed Hammond project focused on upgrades to reduce municipal utility, fuel and maintenance costs, “guaranteeing the city more than $26 million in savings over the next 15 years.” The more comprehensive North Royalton project, which began in August 2019, is scheduled to be wrapped up later this month.

Thanks to recent legislation, the state of Ohio offered an ideal incentive for this project.  According to information supplied to us from Leopardo Energy’s PR folks,

Across Ohio, multiple, large and complex municipal infrastructure projects that may have been long deferred can now get done thanks to Ohio Revised Code 717.02. The legislation allows the debt to fund a community’s energy efficiency project to be paid off from savings derived from reduced energy consumption… North Royalton borrowed nearly $3 million to fund upgrades installed across the city… The infrastructure improvements in the energy efficiency project are estimated to cut annual energy costs by at least $242,000. And over the next 20 years these upgrades will save North Royalton $5.2 million… The City has been pre-approved to receive over $38,000 in utility rebates.

The energy efficiency project guaranteed savings, locked in the project costs, and guaranteed performance. Energy use will be monitored by the city and by Leopardo Energy and any shortfall between the projected savings and the savings realized must be made up by Leopardo.

So what does this mean for aging municipal infrastructure across the country? And what needs to be done to make this approach successful in Illinois and other states that don’t have a means in place to repay project debt with efficiency savings? We’re looking forward to this discussion with Curtis in hour one of today’s program.

Time to work on lawns?

Well, not really. Unless you’re in the planning stage. In that case, it’s exactly the right time.

So, when we heard from Ryan Anderson at Midwest Grows Green that they are about to have their annual Lawn & Land Forum at the Illinois Parks Conference, we said “Sure!” On Saturday, January 25 from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m., MGG will present “The MGG Lawn & Land Forum Toolkit: Making Natural Lawn Care Easy”.

We have interviewed more than 15 turf managers, practitioners and stakeholders across the Midwest and discussed the strategies and policies they implemented to manage sports and recreational fields with no or limited synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.  The Toolkit comprehensively identifies and elaborates on the practices covered in these interviews and provides links to tables, templates and other resources to help managers implement these practices and policies. We cover upwards of 12 topics ranging from improving soil health to implementing and improving IPM and natural lawn care policies.

Just to be clear, this is a pitch to municipalities and larger entities. Meanwhile, the average homeowner can learn about safe, smart lawn care here.

Ryan joins us on the show again this morning.