Happy Earth Month! Together, we have diverted over ONE MILLION POUNDS of food waste from the landfill! Thank you for your efforts in helping the City of Asheville/Buncombe County reach this important milestone! What a tremendous accomplishment! To celebrate, you are cordially invited to join us on Saturday, April 26th for a FREE, family-friendly event! At this event, [...]
Our City and region continue to collaborate and make progress on Tropical Storm Helene recovery. The needs in our communities makes our actions to celebrate and support the earth this Spring even more meaningful. The City of Asheville’s Sustainability Department invites you to take extra steps this month to help clean up, beautify and restore [...]
Due to impacts from Tropical Storm Helene, which reduced the anticipated revenue, the City is suspending the Sustainability Rebate Program by March 31, 2025, to reallocate the remaining funds to support recovery efforts. Community members who have eligible projects should plan to submit rebate applications as soon as possible. Projects will be considered on [...]
With the recent publication of the Sustainability Department’s Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Annual Report and the launch of a new Municipal Climate Action Plan (MCAP) webpage, more information about recent successes and challenges is now available. The Annual Report provides an overview of sustainability work conducted [...]
Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is a planning document used to communicate strategies for delivering reliable electricity at the lowest cost, typically on a 10 to 20 year horizon. When the CPIRP is presented to the North Carolina Utility Commission (NCUC), stakeholders have the opportunity to intervene, or legally [...]
Electrify Asheville-Buncombe is now offering a Home Energy Navigator, a new service designed to support local homeowners as they transition to cleaner, more energy-efficient homes. Whether you’re interested in solar energy, heat pumps, induction cooking, or other home electrification options, the Home Energy Navigator program offers free, personalized consultations to help you make informed decisions for [...]
The City of Asheville is pleased to announce a growing partnership with Southside Community Farm to provide access to fresh, free food at Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center. A new “Free Fridge” was installed inside the community center and will be stocked with fresh food and maintained by Southside Community Farm [...]
The Elevate AVL project was developed in response to the Climate Justice Initiative (CJI) priority of equitable data and information sharing and program development to support community-led resilience and progress toward Climate Justice. The Climate Action Toolkit is an update to the 2019 Personal Action Guide. The toolkit is [...]
At the close of fiscal year 2024 over 2.5 million ft2 of tree canopy had been preserved while more than 380,000 ft2 of tree canopy had been planted. Nearly $380,000 were paid in Fee in Lieu, which will be used to enhance the urban canopy. Desired Trend: Increase in the tree canopy preserved and planted. Methodology: Analysis [...]
50 organizational work plan (OWP) projects, which drive the general direction of work in the City, were planned or implemented with a sustainability lens, accounting for 91 percent of the projects. Of the 5 projects that didn’t consider sustainability only one likely would have been relevant. Desired Trend: Increasing number and percentage of OWP projects planned [...]
There are nearly 300 edible and pollinator site entries in our Asheville Edibles Map and over 2/3s of those are on City-owned property. Desired Trend: Increase in total number of entries for edibles on City property Methodology: Analysis of edible sites uploaded to Asheville Edibles Map
$17 million of the fiscal year 2024 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget was used toward projects considered to be sustainability or climate-related. That accounts for 26% of the total $68 million dollar CIP budget. Desired Trend: Increase in funds allocated and percentage of total funds for sustainability/climate related projects. Methodology: Analysis of descriptions of Fiscal Year CIP [...]
