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June 6, 2022 Small changes make big differences. That’s the mantra of Daniel Wagner, project coordinator for Westown Community Development Corporation (WCDC), a small non-profit agency focused on boosting the lives of the approximately 7,000 Westown residents in City of Cleveland’s 11th ward. In a community where approximately 60 percent of residents live below the Federal Poverty Level, a new energy-efficient fridge can mean the difference between paying or failing to pay the electricity bill. Building a new, sturdy porch can reduce the chances of a senior resident getting hurt or falling. Installing a new furnace can mean finally having a warm home in winter. “Not having heat can end you,” says Wagner. “My hope is that by helping revitalize the neighborhood through things like home improvements and getting people more energy efficient homes, we can cut down on how much power people are using, which can eliminate some of that burden and make people’s lives easier.” In 2021, the WCDC happened upon the Greenlink Equity Map, a.k.a. GEM, through work with the City of Cleveland. Wagner’s background in mapping helped him recognize the tool’s ability to eliminate the usually arduous process of digging up and organizing data. What once took hours to days, now would take minutes, explained Wagner. “It has been a game changer for me when you need quick data,” Wagner added. Greenlink Analytics provided WCDC free access to GEM through its grants program focusing on small nonprofits working to advance equity. Wagner uses the tool for many of the organization’s programs, including the weatherization project that modifies residential homes to reduce energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency. Wagner targeted the neighborhoods where energy burden and income stress were highest and determined which homes most needed to be weatherized. The organization then uses a third party with a list of contractors to do home repairs, replace appliances, install new electrical boxes, update AC units and windows, and many other improvements that reduce bills, increase efficiency, and make life easier. Eighty two households have gone through the program under Wagners’s guidance, a process that takes approximately 6-9 months. “Our previous old furnace was a giant energy cost burden on my family,” says Westown resident Pamela Rose. “Our new, energy efficient one has helped lower our bills and better heat our house and we would have never been able to replace it without the weatherization program.” Wagner also utilizes GEM for other programs, such as a collaboration with Clevelawn, a company helping returning citizens learn carpentry, which provides up to $2,000 in repair for low income people and families. The data has also helped WCDC negotiate on behalf of the community for the city-wide Internet for All initiative, because good data tells a compelling and undeniable story. [Before and after photo of a home in Westown, courtesty of WCDC] This is the epitome of thinking big, but starting small. “I work in the micro,” says Wagner. “These folks matter as much as in the richer neighborhood. If we are to be an equal society, everyone deserves a chance.”

May 9, 2022 Maps have helped people navigate the world for thousands of years, showing us where we want to go and how to get there. The new Greenlink Equity Map, or GEM 2.0, serves the same purpose. The state-of-the-art mapping tool tells a dynamic story about how energy decisions affect quality of life in communities around the country, and guides them towards cleaner, low-carbon options to ensure a healthier, more just world. “People across the U.S. experience large variations in how policies affect health, housing and climate,” says Jellie Duckworth, Greenlink Analytics GEM Strategic Development Manager. “Being able to see the distribution of burdens across communities, especially for the people most affected by climate change but who contribute least to the problem, serves as a starting point for charting a new course. That’s the power of GEM 2.0.” Like any map, GEM helps take people from point A to B. Over 180 cities and eight states across the U.S. already have goals to power their communities with 100 percent renewable energy to avoid the most harmful effects of climate change. These commitments are the first step in a longer journey to the clean energy transition. Unfortunately, historically marginalized communities tend to bear the brunt of climate change. On the ground, this looks like higher asthma rates, a larger percentage of income spent on electricity and gas bills, less efficient homes, more pollution, warmer neighborhoods, and limited transportation options. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will help mitigate these outsized burdens and transform communities for the better. Take the City of Atlanta, for example, which used the tool to understand which neighborhoods bear the weight of disproportionate energy bills. The information helped create policies that strategically funnel funds into energy improvements and weatherization, which also helped the city make strides towards being powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. GEM 2.0 will enable any city, community-based organization, or state to dive even deeper into the challenges and opportunities climate change presents in their communities. These will include variations in tree cover, transportation burden, and temperature variation within cities (aka urban heat islands). “Heat islands contribute to increased energy bills, health issues, and hotter temperatures, often experienced in some neighborhoods more than others,” says Greenlink Data Scientist Sharanya Madhavan. “When combining heat and tree canopy data with other indicators in GEM, we can understand who within our cities is at higher risk of extreme heat and set out to alleviate these heat related burdens.” One of the tool’s most requested innovations is the ability to create an equity index, or grading system so governments and communities can rate progress on energy burden, asthma rates, affordability of housing, or other equity issues. This technology is being piloted in 2022. The map also updates data for almost all of the existing 37 equity measures for 2019 and expands data tracking back to 2013 so people can see how local conditions change over time. The upshot is that robust data helps spur strong policies for our communities, environment, and health. So, grab our new map, which goes live May 23, 2002, and start your journey towards clean energy for all.

As of December 2021, The City of Savannah adopted the 100% Savannah Clean Energy Plan which provides a roadmap for meeting the community-wide clean energy targets they adopted in March of 2020. Recognizing the importance of a fast decarbonization of our economy, the City Council commits to 100% safe, clean, and renewable electricity by 2035 and 100% safe, clean, and renewable energy for all other uses (e.g. transportation, heating, and industry) by 2050. The equity data and analysis for these clean energy targets was done using GEM and other Greenlink Analytics methodologies. Additionally, the City Council committed to using this transition as an opportunity to address historical inequities in the community across Savannah prioritizing a just and equitable clean energy transition. As the City invests in workforce training, renewable energy installations, energy efficiency programs, and clean transportation, priority will be shown to frontline, fence-line, low-income, and minority communities. According to our analysis, Savannah used just over 2 million MWh of electricity in 2018. Under business-as-usual conditions, that is expected to increase slightly to 2.16 million MWh by 2035, due to population growth, economic development, and a modest trend toward using electricity instead of fuel. The GEM platform has also already informed two grant applications for the City of Savannah: The first grant application requested $3.5 million from Georgia’s State Fiscal Recovery Fund in the category for addressing the negative economic impacts of Covid-19. This proposed project is to complete pre-weatherization home repairs in homes in the 12 most energy burdened census tracts in Savannah. If the City receives this funding, their most energy burdened citizens will have access to the support they need to take advantage of free energy efficiency services through their utility provider. The second grant application that GEM informed also requests funding from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund’s negative economic impact category. Unlike the first application, this one was written in coalition with the City of Atlanta and several environmental non-profits to support deployment of solar in low-income communities as part of the combined Savannah-Atlanta Solarize campaign. If approved, this funding will support job training in both solar and energy efficiency, fully or partially subsidized solar deployment, and critical pre-solarization repairs like roof replacements. In addition to supporting future grant applications, GEM will play a crucial role in informing the City of Savannah’s investments and program implementation going forward. “Per the Council resolution, we are deeply committed to ensuring that our clean energy transition redresses historical inequities, reduces energy burdens, and creates meaningful economic benefits for frontline communities. This work already has been and will continue to be made easier with the data provided by GEM.” - Alicia Brown- Energy Analyst, Savannah Office of Sustainability Image: Energy Burden and Key sourced from 100% Savannah Clean Energy Plan For more information about this story contact Alicia Brown at Alicia.Brown@savannahga.gov

Human-caused climate change and the war in Ukraine are fruit of the same tree: fossil fuels. With Russia being the world’s largest natural gas exporter and second largest exporter of crude oil (behind the US), Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will send shock waves to economic conditions worldwide. With gas markets more global and more commoditized, US natural gas prices in 2021 experienced growth that led to 35% inflation in energy prices. As many have already seen and felt, energy prices in general have increased causing communities experiencing high energy burdens to fall further into energy poverty. Energy burden is the percentage of household income spent on utility costs. Households across the US face a high energy burden if they pay more than 6% of their income on energy bills, and are severely energy burdened if paying over 10% of their income on utility bills. Energy burden is particularly notable for its spillover impact on health, wealth, and housing: A third of American households skipped a meal or medicines in the past year to pay a utility bill The number one reason people take out a short term loan like a payday loan is to pay a utility bill Energy burden has been a leading indicator of evictions and displacement and is correlated with negative affordable housing outcomes As the US also experiences national security and defense pressures to export more natural gas to Europe making up for the loss of Russian supplies alongside the lingering price effects from 2021, global energy prices will likely feel upward pressure, with short run impacts growing as international economic sanctions against Russia grow due to its invasion of Ukraine. Given the core necessity and dependence on fossil fuels in maintaining a high quality of life in most American households, these price outcomes are likely to exacerbate energy burdens across the nation. And as with most things, those already struggling will be impacted the most. The long-term consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine not only impact Europe’s energy supply, but also our energy supply across the US. Halting Russian oil and natural gas imports to the US would create market pressures to increase prices which in turn would exacerbate energy burdens already felt in vulnerable communities across the country. With the current state of the world, it is evident more than ever before that reliance on fossil fuels is not only environmentally destructive and unsustainable, but also politically unstable, a threat to our national security, and harms equitable development efforts. Wars like this one will continue to destroy economies and livelihoods as long as we remain dependent on these fuels. Using tools such as the Greenlink Equity Map can help community leaders and policy makers understand how energy inequities are spread across neighborhoods in the US and where some of our biggest opportunities to move away from fossil fuels lie. GEM is an online map allowing the visualization and analysis of over 30 equity related issues at the census tract level. Having access to accurate environmental and equity data significantly advances community collaboration in achieving climate and social justice for a new way forward in the wake of global wars and economic instability. To learn more about how other cities are using GEM, read our GEM stories here. For more information on how to use GEM, book a demo today. Image by Marcus Spike

Deceleration News is an online journal that shares news related to ecological, political, and cultural crisis with a focus on the intersection of environment and justice. Greg Harman with Deceleration News was interested in identifying the top 5 neighborhoods in San Antonio with the highest number of homes experiencing severe energy burden. Access to GEM allowed them to easily find this data at the neighborhood level, identifying the West, Southwest, and Northwest areas of San Antonio with the most homes paying more than one of every ten dollars to CPS Energy. Greg is excited to use GEM to present critical data and evidence that can speak to their recommendations they’re making at the city level on how to address and alleviate energy burden across the City of San Antonio. Read the full story and view the top 5 neighborhoods in San Antonio and experiencing severe energy burden and their median household incomes. Greg Harman of Deceleration News

With heat waves, hurricanes, storms, flooding, and pollution, the City of Orlando is interested in staying active on overall city resiliency. Because buildings in Orlando account for 70% of the city’s carbon footprint, they have been using the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) to create and evaluate policies and programs that support higher performing buildings. These policies would set parameters for buildings in terms of how they should be performing from an energy and water standpoint. By using GEM and their own Tax Assessor data sets, the City has been able to study and identify some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in terms of energy burden in Orlando. These policies and programs would also identify where the building’s performing standards intersect with issues of equity such as cost of living, income stress, livability, and racial distribution. By taking an equitable approach, they’re able to holistically create policy parameters from a community perspective. They have also been using the GEM Process Guide as a roadmap for engaging from a more collaborative approach to create a sense of ownership among the other organizations and partners they’re working with. The GEM tool and the Process Guide has been useful for community partners interested in clearly identifying what energy burden looks like in the City of Orlando and how it’s related to equity and race. Community partners have taken this data to work directly with neighbors and community residents on their energy burden concerns. This data will help inform the City on how to best support higher performing buildings in a more sustainable data-driven and equitable way. For more information on how the City of Orlando has been using GEM, contact Sustainability Manager at the City of Orlando, Ashley Van Stone. Photo by Mike Haupt

The City of Milwaukee has been using GEM with their Climate and Equity Task Force to study energy burden and how they can deliver a robust climate transition for People of Color. In Milwaukee's American Rescue Plan Act proposal for Milwaukee's Recovery and Resilience Plan, Mayor Tom Barrett mentions how they’re using GEM to track energy burden among Black and Latino residents in the City of Milwaukee! The plan proposes an energy efficiency fund of $5 million for their Affordable and Sustainable Housing category. The purpose of this project would be to assist households struggling with energy bills by reducing their energy costs through energy saving retrofits such as insulation and HVAC systems. The project will focus on households in qualified census tracts with the highest energy disparities as identified by GEM data. We also recently published a report on the City of Milwaukee's successes with decreasing their energy burdens over time from 2013-2018. To download the report, go here. For more information on how the City of Milwaukee is using GEM, contact Erick Shambarger at eshamb@milwaukee.gov. Photo by Tom Barrett

The City of Cleveland is using our Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) to overlay racial composition with energy burden in neighborhoods across Cleveland. Using the GEM mapping tool, they were able to identify the top 100 majority-black communities in Cleveland experiencing the worst energy burden, while only 1 majority white community fell within the top third experiencing energy burden. With this information, they targeted organizations and neighborhoods to take part in clean energy community surveys in order to drive Cleveland's Clean and Equitable Energy Future Plan. View the full plan here. The City has also been working together with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Cleveland Tree Coalition on a project related to energy burden, tree planing, and urban heat island in the City of Cleveland. The 2020 Cleveland Tree Plan update recommends a strategic and equitable neighborhood based tree planting strategy based on a vulnerability index. Using GEM data, they have been able to strategically design tree planting programs across the city in communities with heavy utility burdens and disparities. For more information on how Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is using GEM, contact Divya Sidhar at DSridhar@clevelandnp.org . Photo by DJ Johnson

The City of San Jose is using the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) for their recent partnership with students' capstone projects at local universities working with the Climate Smart City GIS library. This partnership will support the City by informing their zero emissions targets. They’re also studying asthma rate data and lack of internet access in San Jose to support its climate and equity goals across the city. Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement at the City of San Jose is also using GEM to work on housing equity. Their team is studying the renter vs. owner, multi-family vs. single family indicators found in GEM to build community engagement and support their fair housing policy and programs. For more information on how the City of San Jose is using GEM, contact Yael Kisel at Yael.Kisel@sanjoseca.gov. Photo by: Kehn Hermano

The City of Charlotte has been working with the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) in partnership with Clean Air Carolina, an organization that advocates for the health of all North Carolinians through equitable and collaborative solutions and initiatives. Because Clean Air Carolina’s work has a heavy focus on air pollution and health, they are specifically using the GEM maps to layer asthma and energy burden in the City of Charlotte and the City of Raleigh. With this data, they will be able to identify certain neighborhoods with health disparities related to air pollution across both cities. These findings would also allow them to identify opportunities for energy improvements within these neighborhoods! Through stakeholder meetings with the City of Charlotte and Firefly Consulting, we have also been able to put together an anti-displacement agenda for these energy improvements. This information would allow them to identify some of the communities in these cities most in need of resources, monitoring, and policy reformation. The City of Charlotte is also interested in using GEM to create an energy/equity strategy to look at what kind of programs they should be developing for the future in order to address the pressing equity issues present. For more information on how the City of Charlotte and Clean Air Carolina is using GEM, you can contact Catherine Kummer at Catherine.Kummer@charlottenc.gov Photography by: Wes Hicks

The City of Denver is using the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) to overlay their building benchmarking data over the GEM data in order to explore their commercial energy efficient focused energy policies with an equity emphasis. We're also currently working with the City of Denver to incorporate an equity index into GEM. They’re interested in strengthening their equity work with community, government, private, and non-profit partners to dismantle systemic inequities and barriers to growth across the city. Their goal is to create weighted equity scores for the census tracts containing 17,000 buildings across the city as they work to increase the city’s safety, health, and inclusion. With the integration of this equity index, GEM users would have the ability to map and identify which buildings they should prioritize for aid and resources. When coupled with GEM’s forthcoming change over time variables, the equity index will also be used to produce a report card for the City to use at the citywide level addressing: - Areas of Progress - Areas for Improvement - Comparisons to other cities Having a tool or index to properly measure the performance and progress on equity of the city’s buildings is crucial for neighborhoods, communities, businesses, and residents to thrive. It will also help serve as a communication device when integrated with change over time data, providing a measure of progress across the city and within communities. For more information on how the City of Denver is using GEM, please contact Maria Thompson at Maria.Thompson@denvergov.org. Photography by: Andrew Coop

The City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability has been using the Greenlink Equity Map (GEM) for guidance on investments in energy burdens and climate justice in their Energy Burden Focus Groups to address disparity in Philadelphia communities. These Focus Groups provide the City an opportunity to directly hear from Philadelphians about their experiences with housing and energy use. Image: City of Philadelphia. Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee Board with the shipment of air conditioners after convening energy burden focus group and spending the summer giving away 130 ac units and 30 fans to neighbors living in the hotter than average neighborhood, Hunting Park. At each meeting, facilitators use the GEM maps to show energy burdens in different neighborhoods and how they relate to other indicators such as racial composition, asthma rates, eviction rates, housing type, and more. They’ve found the maps to be useful when talking with community based organization leaders for joint-meaning making as well as for knowledge exchange to drive positive change. As they continue to use the maps and facilitate these focus groups, the City is hoping to use the data GEM provides to expand conversations with residents about energy burden and energy equity. For more information on how the City of Philadelphia is involving community members to address the most burdened neighborhoods, visit the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability. Image: City of Philadelphia. Heat Ambassadors in North Philadelphia talking about energy burden and distributing energy efficiency resources.