Villa Park considers plan to go green

Villa Park officials are hoping Kermit the Frog was wrong and that it is easy being green.

Trustees are looking at having the village participate in the Cool Cities program to help curb global warming. As part of the program, the village would pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent compared to its 1990 levels by 2012 and strive to meet other targets.

"It's truly beneficial," Trustee Tom Cullerton said. "It's definitely something we should look into and try to do."

Villa Park would join more than 900 communities across the country in various stages of the program. About three dozen Illinois municipalities already have signed on, including Aurora, Naperville, Carol Stream, Elgin, Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Waukegan.

If Villa Park approves the climate protection pact, it would need to identify existing environmentally friendly policies, identify and recommend initial emissions reduction actions, prepare a villagewide 1990 emissions inventory, create a long-term plan and develop a mechanism to oversee execution of the program.

"By finding energy-efficient solutions, we can save the village money. That's a great byproduct," said Bob Wagner, chairman of the village's environmental concerns commission.

President Joyce Stupegia said the village already has made strides in being green, including the police station's garden rooftop and carpets made of recycled materials.

"That, to me, is an exciting beginning," Stupegia said.

Village officials got some tips this week from Jefferson Middle School students Kelly Campagna, Vanesha Mistry, Zac Prosek and Dominic Lorann. The seventh-graders presented some ideas obtained through their Saving the World Little By Little project.

They said if every home traded out one light bulb with an energy-efficient one, it would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year. They also noted the benefits of wind turbines, hybrid vehicles and solar panels.

Officials said some efforts could be accomplished easily -- such as soliciting residents to change out their light bulbs. But other more costly solutions, like replacing the village's fleet with biodiesel and hybrid vehicles, would have to be tackled in phases.

"You can't save the world overnight," Cullerton said. "It takes time."

For more information about the Cool Cities program, visit www.coolcities.us. To find what you can do to help curb global warming, see www.sierraclub.org/twopercent.