Atlanta Commits To 100 Percent Renewable Energy By 2035

WASHINGTON — Atlanta lawmakers approved a measure on Monday aimed at powering the city entirely on renewable energy sources, including solar and wind, by 2035.

A resolution introduced by city council member Kwanza Hall and unanimously approved commits city government to develop a plan for transitioning all of its buildings to clean electricity sources by 2025, and for the entire city to go green a decade later.

“We know that moving to clean energy will create good jobs, clean up our air and water and lower our residents’ utility bills,” Hall, who’s also a Democratic candidate for mayor, said in a statement. “We never thought we’d be away from landline phones or desktop computers, but today we carry our smart phones around and they’re more powerful than anything we used to have. We have to set an ambitious goal or we’re never going to get there.”

Atlanta becomes the 27th U.S. city and the first in Georgia to pledge a 100-percent renewable energy goal, according to the Sierra Club.

Ted Terry, director of the Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter, celebrated the city’s leadership in confronting climate change.

“Just days after hundreds of thousands marched for climate action across the globe, city leaders here in Atlanta are answering the call,” Terry said in a statement. “Today’s commitment will inspire bold, ambitious leadership from cities throughout the United States and pave the way for a healthier and stronger Atlanta.”

Monday’s vote comes less than a month after Hall came under fire for voicing skepticism about climate change.

“I got a question mark on the global warming thing,” he said at a forum last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported….
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