Members of two Lawrence advisory boards will soon put their heads together to evaluate whether the city’s renewable energy goals are realistic, and how they line up with overarching sustainability plans for the county.
Members of the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board and Connected City Advisory Board will meet jointly in January to discuss revisions or even a change of goal for Ordinance 9744, which is focused on renewable energy.
The ordinance, adopted in March 2020, declares the city’s goal to achieve 100% clean, renewable energy in municipal operations and citywide by 2035.
It defines clean energy as “including but not limited to, sources regarded as carbon-free and pollution-free energy collected sustainably and from renewable sources such as wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal.”
Most recently, on Oct. 8, 2024, Lawrence city commissioners agreed to the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, which Douglas County had also adopted that March. The plan is intended to address the climate crisis, and one of its major tenets is to be carbon neutral by 2050.