How to Get Your Local Government to 100 Percent Clean Electricity

RMI has developed the Local Energy Action Framework (LEAF), a step-by-step process designed to help US cities and counties prioritize energy projects and map electricity needs holistically to reach 100 percent clean electricity or carbon-neutrality goals.

• The Local Energy Action Framework (LEAF) was developed with six US local governments—Alexandria, VA; Ann Arbor, MI; Atlanta, GA; Boise, ID; Cincinnati, OH; and Miami-Dade County, FL—to prevent sub-optimal outcomes caused by planning decarbonization projects in isolation.
• Energy efficiency efforts should prioritize facilities with the highest electricity demands to maximize savings. Water and wastewater facilities often represent the largest electricity users, accounting for up to 70 percent of city electricity usage, though large airports can be the primary driver in some cities like Atlanta.
• Electrifying vehicle fleets and buildings can contribute up to 52 percent of total carbon emissions reductions by 2030 across the analyzed cities. However, this increases annual building loads (excluding water facilities) by 5-17 percent. In cold climate zones like Boise, electrifying heating could increase winter building loads by 170 percent, particularly during early morning peaks.
• To achieve 24x7 clean electricity, local governments must address the fact that 60-80 percent of electricity consumption occurs between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. due to outdoor lighting and water treatment plants. Solutions include shifting flexible loads to daytime, using solar-charged batteries, and optimizing smart EV charging to avoid peak demand hours.
• Because most local governments lack sufficient land or roof space for total on-site solar, they must use off-site renewable energy procurement—such as power purchase agreements (PPAs), virtual PPAs, or green tariffs—to fill gaps, particularly using non-solar resources like wind and geothermal for overnight loads.

APA

RMI (2023). How to Get Your Local Government to 100 Percent Clean Electricity. https://rmi.org/resources/how-to-get-your-local-government-to-100-percent-clean-electricity/

Chicago

RMI. How to Get Your Local Government to 100 Percent Clean Electricity. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/how-to-get-your-local-government-to-100-percent-clean-electricity/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=How to Get Your Local Government to 100 Percent Clean Electricity |date=1 February 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/how-to-get-your-local-government-to-100-percent-clean-electricity/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023how, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{How to Get Your Local Government to 100 Percent Clean Electricity}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/how-to-get-your-local-government-to-100-percent-clean-electricity/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }