The City of Bloomington is making progress in increasing energy efficiency at the Buskirk Chumley Theater by installing new exterior ductwork insulation. Installing new exterior ductwork insulation significantly boosts HVAC energy efficiency by minimizing heat transfer, preventing air leaks, and ensuring conditioned air reaches its destination, reducing the strain on the HVAC system and lowering energy consumption. This is the first step in a multi-year project to increase energy efficiency and install a solar PV system and battery energy storage system at the theater that has been made possible by a grant from the Indiana Office of Energy Development and funding from the City. 

Take a look at these photos showing the old insulation and an action shot of the new insulation installation!

On March 8th, with a $50,000 grant from the City’s Sustainability and Economic Development office, Canopy Bloomington and volunteers planted nearly 70 trees to create “cool corridors” in the Crestmont neighborhood. Amongst the volunteers were ESD's own Shawn Miya and Evie Sellers.

Additional trees will be planted in the Walnut Woods neighborhood soon - to learn more about volunteer opportunities with Canopy and future plantings, check out their website here!

The City of Bloomington recently partnered with ClimateNav to produce the 2023 Community-Wide and Municipal Operations Greenhouse Gas Inventory, published in early 2025. This report includes the first inventory of the City’s municipal government carbon footprint. The City plans to provide updated GHG inventories on an annual basis using a new streamlined process going forward.

Assistant Director of Sustainability Shawn Miya and Wes De Silvestro of ClimateNav jointly presented some of the report's key findings before the Bloomington City Council yesterday evening. This presentation was recorded and is available for viewing here. If you would like to know more about the 2023 GHG Inventory or any previous reports, check out the page on our website here.

City Hall is currently undergoing a full LED light replacement! This new LED lighting system is estimated to reduce the building's energy consumption by 67% and greenhouse gas emissions by 164.8 tons annually, moving us one step closer to achieving our city's emission reduction goals. The annual cost savings of the LED upgrade are estimated at approximately $29,000 in electrical and maintenance costs. In the interest of being as sustainable as possible, all of the recyclable materials generated from this project are being recycled. Thank you to our vendors Donovan Energy and Innovasol for all their hard work on our new installations!

The City of Bloomington is turning sustainability into a friendly competition with the Spring into Sustainability Challenge! From March 1–31 2025, local organizations, businesses, and community groups will compete to complete climate-friendly actions, track their progress, and earn recognition—all while helping Bloomington meet its climate goals. The challenge is simple: teams sign up, log sustainable actions, and compete for cash prizes. The top five groups with the most completed actions will win up to $500 in prize money and special recognition at Bloomington’s Earth Day 2025 celebration on April 19. Individuals who participate can also enter a raffle for additional prizes by earning points for their actions and sharing their progress. Sign up your faith group, campus organization, book club, or even your kid's soccer team and compete with teams of your fellow Bloomington residents to live sustainably and win prizes! More information can be found on the Sustainable Bloomington website! Email [email protected] with any questions.

Residents of Bloomington and beyond are invited to attend the 2025 Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference! The conference runs from 8:30am to 4pm on Friday, February 28th, 2025 at the Monroe Convention Center here in town. Registration is $75 for general admission and $25 for students and includes a full day of conference activities, a buffet lunch, and a drink at the networking happy hour.

Learn more about all of the wonderful people and organizations that will be in attendance and register online here!

The City of Bloomington conducted an air quality study in collaboration with CAPA Strategies to measure the distribution of particulate matter across the City. The study was conducted during the heat mapping campaign that took place on August 4, 2024. Volunteers placed particulate matter sensors on their cars and drove along five predetermined routes throughout the city at 6 a.m., 3 p.m., and 7p.m. The particulate matter sensors were then placed at stationary locations across the city for 21 days.  

Particulate matter (PM) particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 2.5 , can be especially harmful to human health when breathed in elevated concentrations. When PM2.5 measurements reach a 24-hour average between 12-35 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter), there may be some risk to people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. During the study, all sensors located across the city had at least one day with a daily average over 12 μg/m3 with one sensor having six days. At these levels, unusually sensitive people such as children, older adults, people with pre-existing heart or lung diseases (like asthma or COPD), pregnant women, individuals with diabetes, and those who exercise heavily outdoors should consider making outdoor activities shorter and less intense or wearing an N-95 HEPA filter air mask while outdoors. Residents are encouraged to monitor Bloomington’s real-time air quality by visiting the website AirNow.

The results from the air quality study are available on the City of Bloomington’s Sustainable Bloomington website. Residents are invited to read CAPA Strategies’ summary report, which provides key highlights from the study and details the methodologies used to create the distribution maps. 

CAPA Strategies also completed a  Climate Projections Extreme Heat Report for the City of Bloomington and a story map that compiles residents' work for the City of Bloomington including the HeatWatch Campaign, Air Quality Study, and Climate Projections.

Stay informed about the city's ongoing climate and energy efforts by visiting the City of Bloomington’s Sustainable Bloomington website and subscribing to the ESD Instagram account, @bloomington.esd!

A $250,000 grant from the City of Bloomington Office of Economic and Sustainable Development is supporting Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County in building 30 solar-powered homes in Bloomington. Homes built through Whirlpool's Build Better solar initiative, including those built by HoH here in Bloomington, have energy savings of ~45% and GHG emission reductions of ~15%. The first of these solar homes is nearly completed, and a local family will be moving in soon!

Read more in this article from the Herald Times: Article

Jeff Jackson of Go Bloomington was recently featured on WFHB Community Radio's Activate! series, featuring people in and around Bloomington working towards positive change. His feature was broadcasted on WFHB this Monday, December 9th, and is now available to listen to as a podcast. Jeff spoke about the city's e-bike voucher program, for which more information can be found on the Bloomington Sustainability website.

The link to listen to Go Bloomington's episode of Activate! can be accessed here.

Bloomington has been named the state’s latest Clean Community by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

Bloomington Stormwater Education Specialist Kriste Lindberg represented the City of Bloomington and accepted Clean Community Program signs and a commemorative flag from IDEM during the 2024 Clean Community Program Annual Meeting in October.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bloomington to the Clean Community Program,” said IDEM Commissioner Brian Rockensuess. “Being a ‘Clean Community’ sends a message to residents and visitors that their city values environmental stewardship. I congratulate Bloomington on their work in earning this recognition.”

Municipalities in the Clean Community Program can progress through three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. All municipalities start as Bronze-level communities. The City of Bloomington is creating a Clean Team of local stakeholders and is working on developing sustainability projects that will allow it to progress to the Silver level.

Bloomington Sustainability recently hosted its final community Climate Action Workshop of 2024; these workshops, free to the public and held at Switchyard Park or via Zoom, provide resources and information about climate action opportunities that can be taken by members of the Bloomington community. The topic for this final workshop was saving money and mitigating climate change impacts using incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The recording is publicly available and can be viewed here: Link

During the summer of 2024, the City of Bloomington conducted a community survey to understand residents' perceptions surrounding extreme heat, its impacts, and potential solutions. The results have been examined by the Economic and Sustainable Development team and will be used to inform the development of future City policies and initiative focused on combatting extreme heat and its impacts in Bloomington.

The City of Bloomington, IN is excited to officially launch its Climate Action Dashboard in collaboration with ClimateNav, a startup focused on helping local governments decarbonize and build more sustainable communities.

The Climate Action Dashboard will serve as a central place for the City to showcase progress on achieving its emissions reduction goals from its Climate Action Plan, up-to-date metrics about sustainability, and information about the various programs the City is helping fund and manage.

Additionally, the Dashboard includes useful information for residents of Bloomington about how they can reduce their personal carbon footprint, get involved in local sustainability initiatives, and learn more about local climate action.