CITY OF ARCATA RECOGNIZED FOR ENERGY SAVING EFFORTS

 ARCATA, CA- The City of Arcata has been recognized for their energy saving efforts. They are working toward earning the ‘Beacon Award.’ The award goes to cities that are trying to reduce their green house gas emissions.
 
Arcata has been honored for reducing their electricity use by 12 percent. That’s enough to power 47 average California homes for a year. Karen Diemer, the City Deputy Director of Environmental Services said, "The city has a goal of 20 percent of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020. That's the ultimate goal."
 
City officials say it just took simple changes. Whether is was placing solar panels on city hall, or replacing street lights with led head lights. Which has saved the city $2,000 dollars a year. Diemer added, "What Arcata hopes to do is demonstrate is that it takes all of those little things to add up to something as significant like a decrease in global warming."
 
City officials also hope to inspire the community to do their part in reducing green house gases in their own homes. Diemer said, "We’ve got a lot of initiatives to encourage the community to try and decrease their green house gas emissions. But we recognize as a municipality that we need to take a leadership role in that."
 
In the spirit of taking charge the city received a grant to install energy efficient heating ventilations at City Hall, Arcata police, and the D Street Neighborhood Center. Diemer said, the City of Arcata as had a long standing history in environmental leadership.”
 
City officials say Arcata has been working towards energy efficiency since the early 80’s, and will continue to move forward.