Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Award category

Leadership

Year released

2019

The City of Chicago under Mayor Rahm Emanuel has undertaken numerous sustainability initiatives that position the city as a national leader in energy efficiency. The Sustainable Chicago Action Agenda spearheaded by Mayor Emanuel identified energy efficiency goals and the actions to achieve them. The City of Chicago’s Smart Lighting is working towards the goal of replacing 270,000 of the city’s aging street lights with energy efficient LEDs and install a smart network. The new LEDs will use approximately 50% less energy than the existing lights. The project, which is the largest LED street lighting conversion in the U.S., demonstrates to residents and businesses within the City of Chicago and to communities across the nation how projects that save energy and money can also improve lives.