Algonquin uses green plan as blueprint to save energy

Algonquin officials have developed a plan they say will allow the village to "Engage, Conserve and Optimize" the town's resources when it comes to saving energy and hopefully, money.

The inaugural environmental action plan, developed by the village's eight-member ECO committee, sets green priorities that members say the board should implement between now and the end of 2010.

They include:

• Seeking a designation from the League of American Bicyclists, which will help develop the town's current network of trails and bicycle lanes;

• Converting all its traffic signals to LED lights that save energy;

• Encouraging commercial and multifamily recycling;

• And awarding its citizenry for contributing to the town's green initiatives.

The village already has held an E-waste recycling event that collected 37,000 pounds of outmoded electronics. It's also developing a bicycle rack art program and is now running a program meant to track the village's carbon footprint - both are immediate priorities identified by the committee.

Officials recognize that in this tough economy, they'll have to be creative about funding certain initiatives and plan on going after grant money whenever they can, said Jenna Kollings, assistant village manager and the committee's coordinator.

The current budget reserved $16,000 for environmental programs, Kollings said.

"We're trying to be conscientious about our budget, so I don't know that we'll spend all of that," she said.

Algonquin has been doing its part to save the energy before "going green" became ubiquitous.

The town's longtime initiatives include converting vegetable oil into fuel for lawn mowers, running a volume-based recycling program with stickers and running an Arbor Day program.

In keeping with the sustainability philosophy, the document is only available online. You can view it in its entirety at algonquin.org/eco.

If you would like to comment on the plan, send a note to ECO@algonquin.org.