Mayor: City Hall Has Cut Emissions 30 Percent

During his "State of the City" address last week, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn touted the city's environmental accomplishments, including a big one for Medford City Hall.

McGlynn said the city set an "ambitious" goal in 2010 to cut green house gas emissions by 20 percent by the end of 2015.

It did not take long to surpass the goal.

"We are please to announce this evening we have surpassed this and already reduced emissions by 30 percent at the end of 2012," McGlynn said.

Some other conservation accomplishments by the city mentioned in McGlynn's speech:

• Medford has received a City Livability Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Kenneth M. Pickard Innovation Award from the Massachusetts Municipal Association for a record fifth time.
• The Environmental Protection Agency issued Energy Star plaques to the middle and elementary schools in Medford for the second consecutive occasion.
• Medford is the only community to have received over $250,000 in both rounds of Green Communities Grant funding "for implementation of energy efficiency measures."
• The city has changed hundreds of city-owned lights to LED lights, saving the city $16,500 a year. National Grid also awarded the city over $22,000 in rebates for this project.