One of the more successful—and fun—outreach strategies EECBG and SEP grant recipients are using is hosting community challenges. Chicago’s Green Office Challenge, which launched its first round in 2009 and a second round early in 2011, and Arlington, Virginia’s Green Games, launched in 2011, are two great examples that could serve as models for other grantees.

Developed in partnership with ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, USA, Chicago’s Green Office Challenge is now a model that has been reproduced by local governments throughout the United States. The program challenges building tenants in the central business district to measure and then improve their performance in the following categories: outreach, energy conservation, waste reduction, cleaner transportation choices, and property management engagement. In a parallel but separate challenge track, property managers compete to improve their performance in four primary areas: energy, waste, water, and tenant engagement. Chicago provides training seminars and an awards ceremony, and maintains a dedicated website that is the primary portal through which office tenants and property managers participate.

This challenge really delivers savings! Here are some key statistics from the first round of Chicago’s Green Office Challenge:
• Participants: ~150 property managers and tenants
• Energy Savings: 72,000 MWh
• Community Cost Savings: $8.64 million at $0.12/kWh
• Emissions Reduction: 54,000 metric tons of CO2e
• Water Use Reduction: 5%
• Waste Reduction: 1,200 tons
• City Costs: $93,550 for salaries and benefits, supplies, website annual fee, postage and shipping, and events (launch and awards ceremonies) and meetings

The County of Arlington also developed a standout challenge in partnership with ICLEI and partially based on the Chicago model. Arlington’s Green Games launched in 2011 as an office challenge, but the county intends to expand the games to include retail stores and restaurants, with the hope that eventually all sectors will be able to participate. Like Chicago’s Green Office Challenge, the Arlington effort is a friendly, year-long competition among property managers and tenants to reduce energy and water use and limit the amount of waste sent to area landfills. Arlington County also maintains a dedicated website and facilitates the sharing of best practices and lessons learned among participants by holding creative and engaging in-person monthly trainings and online webinars to encourage the development of a peer and expert support network. These trainings include “Mingling Mondays,” a monthly breakfast networking event; “Timeout Tuesdays,” a monthly expert brown bag lunch series; and “Webinar Wednesdays,” two monthly hour-long live webinars.

Here are some key facts about the Arlington Green Games:
• As of May 2011, more than 120 competitors have signed up, and the participants collectively manage or occupy about 14 million square feet of office space—roughly one-third of the office space in the county.

• The county’s EECBG funds have supported a significant portion of the initial program costs. The county has budgeted approximately $400,000 to provide staff compensation and cover marketing expenses, such as website design and development and marketing pieces, for the first 24 months of the games.

• If participants achieve a 1% reduction in energy use (though most have pledged a 10–30% reduction), based on typical energy intensity of commercial properties, the program would save about 12,300 million British thermal units (MMBtu) of energy and about $330,000 per year. If all participants achieve 10% reductions, the savings would be 122,800 MMBtu and about $3.3 million per year.

Replicating Success
In developing a Green Office Challenge, Green Games, or any other efforts to engage the community in a competitive way, it’s a good idea to base your program on a proven successful model. ICLEI’s Green Office Challenge Guidebook (2010) provides detailed guidance on how to set up and implement a successful Green Office Challenge and can be a great resource for local governments looking to start up their own challenges.
Here are some of the key steps identified by ICLEI for preparing for a challenge.

1. Determine if a Green Business Challenge is a good fit. Items to consider include:
• Relative energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) contribution of different sectors. Consider targeting those sectors with the greatest emissions impacts and therefore emissions-saving opportunities.
• Level of support from local leadership. Commitment from leadership can help show area businesses that your local government is behind their efforts to reduce their environmental impact.
• Financing and staff resources available. ICLEI recommends a budget of $50,000 to $150,000 and 0.75 to 2 full-time equivalent positions to get started. Funding may include grants, corporate sponsorships, in-kind services, and participant donations or fees.

2. Define the program scope. When determining which sectors to target, local governments may want to review existing resources and GHG inventories to determine the largest energy- and water-consuming sectors, which in turn present the largest opportunities for savings. More than 40% of Arlington County’s annual GHG emissions come from the commercial office sector, so the county decided to target office buildings for its program. Working with this sector, the county found a way to overcome the split incentive issue (i.e., owners do not make efficiency investments because they do not pay utility bills, and renters do not make investments in rental properties) by giving points on the score card for collaboration.

3. Determine program structure. Consider offering two tracks: one for tenants and one for property managers and owners. Each track should have defined goal areas, strategies, and tiers of achievement. Chicago’s tenant track encourages office workers to recycle and use green products, while the property manager track encourages the use of EPA’s ENERGY STAR® measurement and tracking tool, Portfolio Manager.

4. Engage stakeholders early. Key stakeholders, such as local property management and ownership associations, utilities, and leading businesses, should be given an opportunity to shape the program from an early stage. This ensures community support and will likely result in a higher rate of participation. Chicago partners with groups like the Building Owners and Managers Association to get the word out with advertising and email blasts.

5. Establish a program timeline. Milestones to consider include:
• Program design and ramp up
• Soft launch and registration period
• Official launch and challenge period (typically a year)
• Award ceremony and relaunch of program

6. Consider marketing. Arlington County used its creative design staff to create an engaging and attractive brand that was used throughout games’ documents and outreach materials. The quality of the marketing materials, which are made available to competitors in ready-to-use or customizable formats, lends credibility and consistency to the program.

7. Make sure that you have the right tools for the job. Tools to consider include:
• Green Business Challenge online portal
• Tenant scorecard
• Portfolio Manager training materials and master account (to allow the program sponsor to view each participant’s data on energy and water use)

8. Establish opportunities for peer sharing experiences and getting expert assistance. Arlington County hosts monthly events for participants to network. Also, referring another business or tenant gives office tenants a point on their scorecards.
Check these links for more information on Chicago’s Green Office Challenge and Arlington’s Green Games:
• www.chicagogreenofficechallenge.org
• www.arlingtongreengames.com

Is your community hosting or participating in a challenge? Are you interested in getting resources or talking to your peers? Share your story below!

Content for this blog post courtesy of Leigh-Golding DeSantis and Zach Abrams, Regional Coordinators, ICF International.