County Operations Now Run Entirely on Renewable Electricity
Published on January 05, 2023
Arlington has achieved its goal of 100% renewable electricity use at all County facilities, two years ahead of schedule.
The facilities include County-owned buildings, streetlights and traffic signals, leased facilities, and the Water Pollution Control Plant. These sites are now working off of electricity from sustainable sources including Dominion Energy Virginia's Green Power program options for residences and businesses, on-site solar installations at County facilities, and the Maplewood Solar project in Pittsylvania County, supplying more than 80% of renewable electricity to Arlington facilities through offsets.
“We set an ambitious goal for net-zero County operations and facilities, as part of our overall Community Energy Plan for a fully carbon-neutral community, and we’ve met it – two years early,” said County Board Member Katie Cristol. “This exciting milestone is the result of cross-sector partnership, innovative approaches and Arlington’s commitment to doing our local part in addressing the global challenge of climate change."
Arlington County has committed to be carbon neutral by 2050 as part of its Community Energy Plan (CEP) by:
- Promoting buildings that are more energy efficient than is required by code.
- Enhancing Arlington’s approach to energy assurance and resiliency for critical services and harnessing the ability of nature to mitigate Arlington’s need for energy.
- Exploring alternative operational and financing mechanisms to support performance- and cost-effective renewable energy options.
- Maximizing the use of walking/biking, transit and use of shared vehicles, including micro-mobility devices, to promote a multimodal approach to transportation.
Arlington’s award-winning Community Energy Plan (CEP) is a long-term vision for transforming how the County generates, uses, and distributes energy. The CEP also aims to provide access to the benefits of clean energy sources for all residents regardless of economic situation.