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Tempe advances residential energy equity roadmap; staff seeks council feedback before March approval
Summary
City staff presented a residential energy equity roadmap developed with neighborhood input that focuses on energy efficiency, renewable energy and urban cooling; staff will return for formal approval March 6 and highlighted initial actions for the coming year.
City of Tempe staff on Feb. 24 presented a residential energy equity roadmap developed with neighborhood participants and multiple community partners and asked the council for feedback prior to a formal vote scheduled for March 6.
Andy Escobar, the city’s Energy Equity Coordinator in the Sustainability and Resilience Division, described the roadmap’s purpose as helping residents meet energy‑use and extreme‑heat challenges and said the work ties to Tempe’s 2022 climate action plan update. “We believe it's important that our residents should be able to afford to cool their homes,” Escobar told the council.
Staff said the roadmap was co‑created with resident participants from the Albright/Allegre (transcript: "Allegre"), Escalante and Victory Acres neighborhoods and informed by NASA/ASU heat‑priority scoring that layers socioeconomic and environmental measures at the census‑tract level. Partners included CHISPA Arizona, Veil CDC, Tempe Community Action Agency, Community Services and the governor’s Office of Resiliency; staff also worked with the city’s neighborhood services and Sustainability and Resilience Commission.
The roadmap organizes more than 20 strategies under three themes: energy efficiency, renewable energy and urban cooling. Staff highlighted one priority action for each theme to advance this year: (1) advocate for and better connect Tempe residents to federal programs such as LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program and support state advocacy to increase Arizona’s per‑capita funding; (2) streamline rooftop solar permitting and connect residents to financing and nonprofit partners to expand access; and (3) expand the newly launched Growing Together Tree Stewards program to increase residential tree canopy and provide paid training for residents to plant and maintain trees.
Escobar said the engagement process included bilingual workshops, targeted outreach in priority neighborhoods, public events and an online survey; two Sustainability and Resilience Commission members, Jake Swanson and Joshua Randall, addressed the council in support of the roadmap during public comment. Swanson, a commission member, said Tempe should prioritize energy equity: “Tempe has historically been at the forefront of navigating these sustainability challenges and should feel driven to take energy equity seriously,” he said. Resident Robert Schreffler urged the city to consider indirect evaporative cooling in outdoor, semi‑enclosed facilities such as boat‑rental offices as a low‑energy cooling option.
Staff said several of the roadmap’s actions are grant‑eligible and that program funding sources will be evaluated; the tree stewards program currently operates on grant funding and staff will assess long‑term funding options. Escobar told the council the division plans to return to the March 6 regular council meeting to request formal approval of the roadmap and to move forward on the highlighted actions.
Councilmembers asked for more detail about the heat‑priority scoring methodology and whether housing‑age and upgrade data could be incorporated in future mapping; staff said they have inquired about housing inventory data and will follow up. Vice Mayor Garland offered to take federal advocacy talking points to the National League of Cities summit next week. Staff also noted program collaboration with the city’s Community Health and Human Services and Tempe Community Action Agency for utility assistance referrals.
