Clean Energy Emerges As High Priority For Fredericksburg Leaders

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — The Fredericksburg City Council approved a resolution Tuesday in a 7-0 vote that commits the city to the goal of powering municipal operations with 100-percent renewable energy resources by 2035 and a community-wide goal of powering the city with 100-percent renewables no later than 2050.

The city plans to work with several organizations and governments, including Fossil Free Fredericksburg, the Clean & Green Commission, the state of Virginia and the federal government, to obtain the latest research on clean energy resources, such as batteries and solar panels as well as sources of energy providing charging to clean energy vehicles.

The city council also pledged to work with the city's Planning Commission, the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority, the Downtown Historic District, the University of Mary Washington, Dominion Energy and other interested community and environmental groups to help guide Fredericksburg on its transition to a clean-energy future. In order to help achieve its clean energy goals, Fredericksburg plans to hire a sustainability and energy specialist in the coming years.

"The City Council is taking an important step in the long-term effort to reduce impacts to the climate and adapt to climate change by transitioning Fredericksburg to 100-percent renewable energy," the resolutoin states. "This resolution reflects the vision of citizens in our community who know that climate change poses significant challenges ahead, but who also believe in the strength, intelligence, creativity, and spirit of cooperation in our city."

The resolution states that 131 U.S. cities, including Charlottesville, Virginia, and several states, including Virginia, have already committed to 100-percent clean energy goals. It also emphasizes that price of zero-greenhouse gas emissions renewable energy has fallen dramatically, making the deployment of renewable energy resources commercially viable at a cost equal to or less than that of carbon-emission producing fossil fuels.

In October, Dominion Energy, the largest electric utility in Virginia, announced it will supply 420 MW of renewable energy to state government buildings and facilities. The deal aims to help the state meet new clean energy goals. Electricity produced by Dominion's new wind and solar resources will help meet the equivalent of 45 percent of the state government's annual energy use. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in September committed the state to reach 100-percent carbon-free power by 2050 and 30-percent renewables by 2030.

The International Panel on Climate Change has warned that average planetary warming must be limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius, or about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit, since preindustrial levels to avoid major disruptions to live on the planet.

Because climate change is increasing the likelihood of disasters like strong tropical storms and other flood-producing rainfall, the City Council said it will continue to promote the health of the Rappahannock River and the Chesapeake Bay watershed by finding ways to reduce storm-waterrunoff, protecting riparian areas, preserving undeveloped land, and enhancing other flood mitigation.

As for the burden that climate change places on disadvantaged communities, the city pledged to seek to create an inclusive leadership to achieve its goals in a way that is reflective of the full range of backgrounds and experiences in the community, "understanding that all of Fredericksburg’s unique neighborhoods should have a voice and should be equally valued."