Ithaca’s Crazy Plan to Be Our FirstAll-Electric City
The city is hell-bent on achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. Can it actually be pulled off? ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
The city has one of the most aggressive climate plans in the country, with a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. It’s using a unique public-private partnership to decarbonize its 6,000 buildings in what could be a model for how to electrify cities. If all goes according to plan, residents across Ithaca will wake up on a latespring morning in 2030 not unlike this one. They’ll cook a quick breakfast on their induction stoves before taking their bikes or electric cars to work or school. As the front door shuts, a smart thermostat will tell the heat pump in the basement to turn down the temperature a few degrees so more energy being generated by the solar panels on the roof can be stored in a battery in the garage, ready for use later, after the sun goes down.
Illustration from Rolling Stone Magazine