Local governments are facing serious economic challenges because of increased costs as well as decreased revenue. Furthermore, volatile and unpredictable energy costs are adding to these stresses on local government budgets. This conference will give your organization a head start in preparing for an uncertain future. Learn about actions that local government can take now to reduce energy costs.

This study by Warren Karlenzig, author of How Green Is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings, ranks the largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ barrel oil prices. It considers a variety of factors, including city resident public transit use, city carpooling rates, metro public transit ridership, metro area sprawl, telecommuting, biking and walking-to-work rates, and use of heating oil. This is an update of the May 2008 report.

UK-based ODAC (in cooperation with Post Carbon Institute) has prepared a new report aimed specifically at local government in the UK called Preparing for Peak Oil: Local Authorities and the Energy Crisis.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) have issued a model by-law to help cities and towns establish reasonable standards for small wind-energy development. This model applies to stand-alone wind facilities up to 60 kilowatts (kW) in capacity.

Salt Lake City has long walked its environmental talk. But to be a truly green city, Mayor Ralph Becker's team is using its black pen to cut the red tape. Marking the first major overhaul since the mid-90s, capital planners are rewriting the city's code book to help ensure sustainability for generations to come.

Eugene, the second largest city in Oregon, has adopted two recommendations from its sustainability commission to move the city's facilities and operations toward carbon neutrality.

Victoria councillors have approved changes to the municipality's zoning bylaw to include urban agriculture as an allowable home occupation for up to two people living in a house.

How to Overcome Permitting Obstacles to Small-Scale Distributed Renewable Energy
This report provides seven sets of recommendations for overcoming financial, political and social hurdles to widespread deployment of distributed renewable energy, focusing on the most common technologies – solar photovoltaics (PV) and small wind turbines.

Renewable energy has emerged as a serious issue among politicians at all levels in the United States. Peak oil is a different story, however. Federal, state and local leaders will continue to misunderstand the energy crisis we face if they ignore the new energy production constraints of the 21st century.

Policies are choices. We can choose to set policy as if we're still in a world of cheap oil, or we can choose to set policies more appropriate for the new and very real and world of energy and climate uncertainty. For most people that means electing government leaders who understand peak oil, and letting them figure out what exactly to do about it. As people who work in government know, however, it takes more than winning on Election Day to change policy.