Action Item: Increase the use of clean, alternative energy by investing in “green tags”, advocating for the development of renewable energy resources, recovering landfill methane for energy production, and supporting the use of waste to energy technology. Practice and promote sustainable building practices using the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program or a similar system.

Goals

• Evaluate Village of Schaumburg policies and ordinances to support and encourage the use of renewable energy technology.
• Investigate the development of a voluntary green building standard for the community.

Renewable Energy Code

While many communities imposed moratoriums on small scale renewable energy installations, Schaumburg adopted a renewable energy code in 2011 for solar, wind, and geo thermal technologies. Funding was provided by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program to hire a consultant to prepare the code. After adoption of the code, large rooftop solar installations were built at IKEA and Rabine Paving, and 1 small residential project was installed.

Green Building Standard

In 2011, staff investigated a green building standard that would be specific to Schaumburg. There are some established and well known green building standards and codes for sustainable design and construction, which can be used by the development community to design sites in a more sustainable manner. Schaumburg will consistently adopt updated versions of the International Energy Efficiency Conservation Code (IECC) to ensure more energy efficient building stock, and encourage sustainable building practices in lieu of adopting a green building standard.