O’Fallon’s Moves With Green Ambition

The on Thursday, April 14. Effective immediately, the Advisory Green Council will work with city officials to create awareness of how residents can take advantage of going green.

According to the Energy Strategic Plan Report, the city’s two major goals are to educate O’Fallon citizens about energy conservation and to reduce the overall carbon footprint.

“This is something the city has worked on for several years. The plan develops a guideline with green aspects and how to use energy efficiently,” said Tom Drabelle, director of public relations for the city of O’Fallon. “This is the direction we want to go.”

O’Fallon received a $670,000 government grant to help integrate green elements into the community. These funds will go towards several upcoming projects.

“We are working with the Advisory Green Council to come up with goals, objectives and 23 action plans to get going in a green direction,” said David Woods, director of planning and development for the City of O’Fallon.

The government grant will go towards different action plans the council already has in motion. “With our education goal we are trying to understand what schools are teaching kids and going green. We are looking at different districts for answers,” Woods said. 

The overall goal of the Energy Strategic Plan is to decrease O’Fallon’s carbon footprint by reducing electricity, water and natural gas usage by two percent by the year 2020.

In addition,  a windmill will be built by Cool Springs Road and T.R. Hughes Road by this summer or early Fall. The windmill will help to reduce large amounts of energy in the surrounding area, according to Woods. Woods also mentioned the city and Advisory Green Council looking into a possible ordinance that would allow people to add solar machines on resident lots. Nothing has been finalized yet.

“One of our goals is to create a better website with common sense energy tips,” Woods said. 

The city recently added a link to their home page called “Green Initiative.” Here residents can browse sections such as energy-efficient tips for homeowners, and how to green a home both inside and out. City officials encourage people to visit www.ofallon.mo.us to learn more about the Energy Strategic Plan and going green.