Hoffman Estates recognized by Sierra Club for environmental efforts

Hoffman Estates has now gained recognition for its environmental efforts at the local, state and national level.

Just days after winning a national award for Excellence in Energy Code Compliance at the International Code Council annual conference, a representative from the Sierra Club presented the village with the organization’s Cool Cities Achievements Award during a village board meeting Monday.

The award recognizes municipalities that meet their goals to fight global warming and cut down their community’s carbon footprint.

Cool Cities Chairwoman Lonnie Morris said Mayor William McLeod successfully stuck to a commitment he made through the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to cut greenhouse gases to 7 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012.

“You did it in a way that was good for your residents, through the municipal ... electricity aggregation,” Morris said.

Village Manager Jim Norris noted some other energy-related awards the village has won in recent years, including the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award in 2011.

“People may question why we’re putting the emphasis on green and sustainability,” he said. “The real reason is it saves the village money, which ultimately saves our taxpayers and our businesses money.”

“If we can find processes to do things more efficiently with materials that last longer, it saves everyone money,” he added, noting that efforts like the anti-idling policy for village vehicles help save money every day.

“We are actually trying to make sustainability ingrained every single day in each department in order to save those dollars,” he said.