Charlotte City Council will vote Tuesday on new climate and energy goals.
The Strategic Energy Action Plan, or SEAP, is a blueprint for powering the city while reducing carbon pollution. It aims to improve air quality, lower energy costs and help people move around — all while minimizing Charlotte’s contribution to global warming.
City Council adopted the original plan in 2018. Now, the city Office of Sustainability is updating the city’s climate goals, including setting ambitious long-term, communitywide targets, but do residents understand what the city is trying to do?
Nick de la Canal: The city has a plan. They’ve had it for seven years. What have they been doing up until now?
Zachary Turner: The work so far has been mostly internal — things that are hard to see, like installing solar panels on municipal buildings or making sure new buildings meet green energy standards.
However, if you’ve ever seen a suspiciously quiet city vehicle rolling around town, then you’ve seen some of the city’s efforts to electrify its fleet. Vehicles emit more than any other greenhouse gas source in the city. So far, the city has electrified over 200 cars, trucks and trailers — a small percentage of its total fleet of over 7,000.
The city also released a greenhouse gas inventory that tallied up emissions across many different sectors to see which was polluting the most. That inventory is available now, online, and it’s on the city’s SEAP dashboard.
De la Canal: So far, the city has been focusing on the stuff it can improve on its own. What’s changing?
Turner: Originally, the city planned to electrify all municipal vehicles by 2030. Now, the goal is to replace the light-duty vehicles with EVs by 2035 and the whole fleet by 2050.
The new plan also has a greater focus on the community, not just internal measures. The updated energy plan, or SEAP Plus, sets a goal of reducing communitywide greenhouse gas emissions 72% by 2035 and reaching net zero by 2050. As part of that plan, the city will launch programs like Solarize Charlotte-Mecklenburg, a group purchase program to help lower the cost of rooftop solar.
The city is also looking to expand its Carolina Carshare Program that puts rentable EVs and EV chargers in affordable housing communities.
SEAP Plus also adds a new goal of generating 600 megawatts of renewable energy by 2035. Chief Sustainability Officer Heather Bolick said this might include solar farms, rooftop solar and siphoning off natural gas from the wastewater treatment plant.
De la Canal: So, folks will not only see more of the city’s work on climate goals, they’ll also have more opportunities to participate. How is the city Sustainability Office feeling about the vote?
Turner: I spoke with Bolick earlier, and she seemed pretty confident.
Heather Bolick: Council has been very supportive. We received a unanimous recommendation to go to full council. And so, you know, I think, I think we're well positioned.
Turner: In the months leading up to the vote, the Sustainability Office worked with City Council’s Transportation, Planning and Development Committee, chaired by council member Ed Driggs. A major theme was financing: How was the city going to pay for the plan moving forward and stretch dollars further?
Bolick said one solution the city is pursuing is more public-private partnerships with local clean energy companies. For example, Alpitronic is an EV-charger manufacturer headquartered in Charlotte. Bolick said the city is talking with them about future collaboration.
De la Canal: So, the city’s onboard. How does the public feel about the plan?
Turner Last week, we heard community members speak up in support of the updated goals. But if our local representatives are any indication, I think there’s a large contingent of Charlotteans who don’t fully understand what the city is trying to accomplish. During the same meeting, council member LaWana Mayfield made an erroneous assertion about EV batteries.
Mayfield: I could be wrong — and, please, because technology changes every day, so please correct me — I am under the impression that at this point EV batteries are not rechargeable. They are replaceable.
Turner: Staff members told her EV batteries are rechargeable. Mecklenburg County faces the same issue.
Here’s Commissioner Vilma D. Leake asking the county’s Chief Financial Officer David Boyd about rooftop solar during a recent Board of County Commissioners Meeting:
Vilma D. Leake: My question is, ‘Are we going to be warm? Are we going to be cold?’ Or are we doing it just to save money?
David Boyd: There won’t be any impact on the operation of the building.
Leake: That to me would project whether we were making sure that we are meeting the needs of the staff … if it’s going to be warm or cold. Or are we just doing to save money?
Turner: And that’s a problem if the city wants to reach these aspirational communitywide emissions goals. City staff will have to overcome these educational barriers ... for leaders, and presumably the general public. And the city will have to make the green choice the cheaper or more convenient choice.
