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Daily Archives: May 21, 2015

The City Energy Efficiency Scorecard

“Mayors and local lawmakers in America’s largest cities continue to take innovative steps to lower energy costs for consumers and businesses, increase their resilience, and reduce pollution through increased energy efficiency, according to the 2nd edition of the City Energy Efficiency Scorecard, released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).  Available online at http://aceee.org/local-policy/city-scorecard, the ACEEE report finds that Boston continues to be the most energy-efficient city in the nation, receiving 82 out of a possible 100 points, an improvement of more than five points from that city’s 2013 score. Trailing Boston, the top 10 US cities for energy efficiency are: New York City (#2), Washington, DC (#3), San Francisco (#4), Seattle (#5), Chicago (#6), Minneapolis (#7), Portland (#8), Austin (#9), and Denver (#10). With 9 of the top 10 cities improving their scores from 2013, Boston faced increased competition for the top spot.

Key findings in the 2015 City Energy Efficiency Scorecard include the following:

  • Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle are the most improved cities compared to the 2013 City Scorecard, with many showing double-digit improvements in their scores. Los Angeles, for example, established a strong energy savings goal, and Chicago enacted a new commercial building benchmarking ordinance.
  • Other cities have also improved their scores since the last edition, including several in the Southeast United States. Atlanta, the leading city in the Southeast, saw an improvement of 5 points, earning new points for local government operations, buildings policies, energy and water utilities, and transportation policies. Charlotte made a strong showing as well, improving by nearly 8 points. Jacksonville, the lowest scoring city in the 2013 edition, saw a 50 percent increase in its score.
  • All of the ranked cities, even the highest scorers, have significant room for improvement. Boston was the only city to earn over 80 points, and only 13 cities earned more than half of the possible points.

ACEEE research analyst David Ribeiro, the lead report author, said: “Our findings show that cities continue to be laboratories of innovation when it comes to energy efficiency, with many pushing the envelope for more energy savings in the last few years. Cities are also improving their approaches when it comes to tracking and communicating their efforts to save energy. By capturing these efforts in the Scorecard we hope local leaders from cities of all sizes can learn best practices from each other and deliver the benefits of energy efficiency to their communities, such as a stronger economy and a cleaner environment.”

 

Mobility, Economic Opportunity and New York City Neighborhoods

Kaufman, Sarah and Moss, Mitchell L. and Tyndall, Justin and Hernandez, Jorge, Mobility, Economic Opportunity and New York City Neighborhoods (December 29, 2014). NYU Wagner Research Paper No. 2598566. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2598566 “Although public transit provides access to jobs throughout the New York City region, there are actually substantial inequalities in mobility.… Continue Reading

Federal Reserve proposes adding certain investment grade general obligation state and local municipal bonds to types of assets big banks may hold to meet liquidity needs

“The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday proposed adding certain general obligation state and municipal bonds to the range of assets a banking organization may use to satisfy regulatory requirements designed to ensure that large banking organizations have the capacity to meet their liquidity needs during a period of financial stress. Under the Liquidity Coverage Ratio… Continue Reading

Making Archival and Special Collections More Accessible

OCLC Research Report – “Key highlights: Institutions should undertake an accurate census of their archival collections as a foundation for acting strategically in meeting user needs, allocating available resources, and securing additional funding. Accurately describing unprocessed and therefore hidden collections is a daunting but important task that is a necessary prerequisite for discovery. Practitioners should… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Federal Vehicle Fleets, Medicare Physician Payment Rates, Nuclear Weapons Council, Telecommunications, Unemployment Insurance

Federal Vehicle Fleets: Leading Practices for Managing Fleet Operations, GAO-15-644T: Published: May 21, 2015. Publicly Released: May 21, 2015. Medicare Physician Payment Rates: Better Data and Greater Transparency Could Improve Accuracy, GAO-15-434: Published: May 21, 2015. Publicly Released: May 21, 2015. Nuclear Weapons Council: Enhancing Interagency Collaboration Could Help with Implementation of Expanded Responsibilities, GAO-15-446:… Continue Reading

Deepwater Horizon oil spill contributed to high number of Gulf dolphin deaths

NOAA – As part of an unusual mortality event investigation, a team of scientists has discovered that dead bottlenose dolphins stranded in the northern Gulf of Mexico since the start of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have lung and adrenal lesions consistent with petroleum product exposure according to a paper published today in the peer-reviewed… Continue Reading