News release: ” The mayors from 10 major U.S. cities today announced they will undertake a united effort to significantly boost energy efficiency in their buildings, a move that combined could cut as much climate change pollution as generated by 1 million to 1.5 million passenger vehicles every year, and lower energy bills by nearly $1 billion annually.

“New York City’s sustainability efforts are a major reason our greenhouse gas emissions are down 19 percent since 2007 and our air is cleaner than it has been in more than 50 years. They have also substantially driven down energy costs for consumers,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, philanthropist and 108th mayor of New York City.  New York knows the value of building energy efficiency from experience, thanks to its pioneering efforts under the Bloomberg Administration. “The City Energy Project will bring the significant economic and environmental benefits that energy efficiency has to offer to other cities – and accelerate progress by helping them learn from each other’s successes.”

The mayors will be participating in the new City Energy Project (CEP), an initiative from the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market Transformation that is designed to create healthier, more prosperous American cities by targeting their largest source of energy use and climate pollution: buildings. The following 10 cities will be CEP’s first participants: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City.”