Over the past 20 years, the Chatham Environmental Forum (CEF) has addressed complex issues, such as air quality in the Savannah area and its potential impact on community cancer rates, and the long term protection of the Floridan aquifer as the area’s primary drinking water source. For each issue undertaken by the CEF, the final analysis has been a consensus product based on the best available science with recommended solutions that all sectors within the community could support.
Resources
- Alliance to Save Energy
- Climate Change
- Climate Communities
- Coastal Regional Commission
- Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants – Competitive and population-based local government grants for implementation of energy efficiency projects. First funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this Department of Energy program provides funding for local projects.
- Department of Transportation TIGER grants – Federal funding for bridge, highway, public transportation or port infrastructure projects. This competitive grant is discretionary spending as opposed to a regular offering, and each new allocation must be approved by Congress.
- Energy Star
- Energy Tracking Software
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Federal Tax Credits, Incentives, Grants
- Georgia Department of Community Affairs
- Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Coastal Resources Division
- Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division
- Georgia Environmental Finance Authority – GEFA provides financing for local government water and sewer projects, financing for land conservation, and facilitates federal funding for federal programs like EECBG and Weatherization Assistance funds. GEFA also provides technical assistance in the areas it provides financing.
- Georgia Land Conservation Program
- Georgia Quality Growth Guidelines
- Governor’s Partnership for Sustainability
- Local Governments for Sustainability
- Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds – Subsidized bond issues for local governments that allow for reduced cost borrowing for energy conservation or renewable energy production projects.
- Riparian Buffer Guidance Manual
- Savannah/Chatham Metropolitan Planning Commission
- Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance
- Stormwater Management
- Sustainable Cities Institute
- Sustainable Cities Institute – A program of the Home Depot Foundation, the SCI provides technical assistance, best practice resources and funding for implementation of sustainability projects and programs.
- Urban Land Institute
- Weatherization Assistance Program- 30+ year old federal program that permanently reduces energy bills in low-income housing by making energy efficiency improvements. The program is distributed through the Department of Energy, primarily through Community Action Agencies.