Local government associations as agents of change

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (Alliance) has a project, the Local Government Association (LGA) Support Project, that utilizes the local government associations in each of the four Alliance states to act as infrastructure to help promote appropriate Alliance market transformation projects to their members, cities and counties. The measurement studies conducted in 1999 and 2000 included interviews with board members and LGAs, and a mail survey of local governments. The mail survey examined current attitudes and actions by local governments towards energy efficiency, policies for three levels of inward/outward focus for energy efficiency promotion. These three levels are: 1) public facilities, 2) zoning and planning policies, and 3) promotion to community The evaluation of this effort indicated that two of the three perspectives of project goals could include harnessing the LGAs as agents of change, developing local government officials into agents of change within the government and for their communities. The paper provides information on the role of energy efficiency in local governments and the barriers for promotion within the local government and to the communities as found in a survey of local governments in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. It also points to the role local government associations, and local governments themselves, could have as vehicles for market transformation. This could occur if local government associations are harnessed to be agents of change for local governments and, similarly, if local governments are harnessed to be agents of change for their communities.