Village Establishes Skokie Green Business Baseline Program For $40,000

SKOKIE, IL — As part of their effort to cut the village's carbon emissions by more than a third by 2030, the Skokie Village Board on Monday approved a contract to develop a new local green business program.

Village trustees unanimously approved a $40,000 contract with the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, or SEDAC, an applied research program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that currently operates the Illinois Green Business Program.

Village Manager John Lockerby said operators of local businesses are vital to helping the village accomplish its sustainability goals like increased recycling and energy and water efficiency and decreased landfill and water waste.

"The Skokie Green Business Program will provide an operating overview of current business practices by analyzing utility usage, conducting waste transportation, and performing basic energy assessments," Lockerby said.

SEDAC will help village staff set up the program, train them to run the program and advise local business officials in its first year, according to Lockerby.

"I'm curious, in terms of working with SEDAC, how we came to that partnership," asked Trustee Khem Khoeun.

"SEDAC has been identified through their other proven green business programs that they run through the University of Illinois," explained Skokie Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Sanzenbacher. "There's DuPage County that they helped run, so they have a proven track record of helping businesses."

With clients ranging from airports and grocery chains to museums and governments, SEDAC has provided more than 2,700 energy assessments in the past two decades, according to its website.

Businesses that sign up for the Skokie Green Business Baseline program will get customized plans, including analysis of utility and use, as well as waste, transportation and energy assessments, according to a memo from Sanzenbacher and Community Development Director Johanna Nyden.

"As businesses complete their action items, they will be recognized as [a] leader in Green Business practices," Sanzenbacher and Nyden said.

The green business program plans will reduce costs and increase operational efficiencies for local businesses, while also aligning with the goals of the village's sustainability plan, according to the staffers.

"For this inaugural year of the program, the Village and SEDAC will be targeting small businesses in Skokie," they said.

The approach is aimed at minimizing the money and time spent by local businesses need to invest in order to participate in the program, according to Sanzenbacher and Nyden.

"This type of entry level checklist model has been successful in the past in both increasing participation and educating business owners on potential improvement while offering a means for recognition." they said.

Trustee James Johnson praised the new initiative ahead of its approval.

"Our community greenhouse gas emissions audit showed that a huge percentage of our community greenhouse gas emissions are from commercial industrial businesses," Johnson said. "So I think everything that we can do to reach out to the business community and help with these sustainability initiatives, it's going to get us really far in our sustainability goals."

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