City Initiatives

Renewable energy

The Rec Center, Municipal Service Center, Fire Station 1, Fire Station 2 and the Westwood Hills Nature Center have rooftop solar systems.

The goal of the Westwood Hills Nature Center interpretive center is to achieve net-zero energy. The building is designed to produce, at a minimum, as much energy as it uses. Many sustainable, energy-efficient and low-impact features were chosen to help achieve this goal, such as active and passive solar and a geothermal heating and cooling system.

View the solar production dashboards for each solar energy system below:

• Municipal Service Center, 79-kilowatt system
• Municipal Service Center, 50-kilowatt system
• Fire Station 1, 100-kilowatt system
• Fire Station 2, 40-kilowatt system
• Westwood Hills Nature Center Interpretive Center, 122-kilowatt system
• The Rec Center 246-kilowatt system

While other buildings don’t have rooftop solar, all city operations are powered by 100% renewable energy through Xcel Energy's Renewable Connect subscription program.

LED lighting

Almost 90% of all lighting at city buildings has been replaced with new, more cost-effective LED light fixtures. Almost 80% of all city-owned street lights have been converted to LED, as well as over 95% of traffic signals.

Aquatic Park pool efficiency upgrades

New pool filters were installed at The Rec Center's Aquatic Park, which will reduce water use, save energy and reduce costs. A new and more efficient pool boiler, which heats the Aquatic Park pool, was installed in May of 2024 to reduce energy costs.

Transition to electric tools

The parks and recreation division is replacing most of its gas-powered equipment, such as weed whippers and leaf blowers, with electric tools to reduce emissions.

Electric vehicles and chargers

The city currently offers electric vehicle chargers at city hall, The Rec Center, the Municipal Service Center, Aquila Park and Westwood Hills Nature Center.

Through GreenStep Cities, the city is a member of the Cities Charging Ahead electric vehicle cohort to learn from other cities about their electric vehicle programs and share our experiences. As part of this cohort, the city underwent a year-long fleet analysis of city vehicles (funded by Xcel Energy) to identify which vehicles could be replaced with electric vehicles or hybrids.

The city currently has 12 electric vehicles in its fleet.

SolSmart designation

The City of St. Louis Park was awarded SolSmart gold designation in 2022, which recognizes communities that have taken steps to address barriers to solar energy and foster the growth of local solar markets.

St. Louis Park received SolSmart Bronze designation in 2018 and Silver designation in 2021. Over the past several years, the city has:

• Created an online permitting checklist
• Reviewed local zoning codes and identified restrictions to solar development
• Allowed solar by-right accessory use in all zones, so installers don’t require special permits or hearings
• Trained both inspections and permitting staff on solar Hosted Solar Power Hour group buy programs
• Created an online solar suitability map

Climate Mayors

St. Louis Park Mayor Nadia Mohamed and the city are members of Climate Mayors, also known as the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, a national network of U.S. mayors collaborating on climate.

GreenStep Cities

The City of St. Louis Park is a Step 5 GreenStep City, helping to lead the way in sustainability across Minnesota. Actions that are taken within the voluntary challenge, assistance and recognition program focus on energy use reduction, resource conservation, civic innovation and more.

View our GreenStep City profile to learn more about our efforts.

EPA Green Power Partnership

As a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership, St. Louis Park is helping support the development of new renewable energy generation capacity nationwide and also helping protect the environment. The partnership is a free, voluntary program that supports organizations to buy green power.

Cities Charging Ahead

St. Louis Park is part of Cities Charging Ahead, a peer cohort of 27 cities and one sovereign nation led by the Great Plains Institute and Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs). The cohort works to explore and implement electric vehicle (EV) readiness, including purchasing EVs and installing EV charging infrastructure. In May 2020, the cohort was given the Environmental Initiative Awards Energy & Climate Project Honorary Mention.

U.S. Department of Energy Better Climate Challenge 

The City of St. Louis Park was invited to join the Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Climate Challenge and commit to reducing Scope 1 & 2 emissions 50% by 2035. By sharing annual progress and working closely with the DOE, the city is helping save energy and money, supporting the local workforce and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Learn more on the Better Climate Challenge website.

Green Building Policy

St. Louis Park encourages the use of green building practices whenever possible. Compliance with the Green Building Policy(PDF, 250KB) is required for all new planned unit developments (PUDs) and for certain construction projects that receive city financial assistance.

Electric vehicle supply equipment ordinance

This ordinance requires owners of new and reconstructed parking lots to add electric vehicle charging stations, with the goal of encouraging the use of electric vehicles and building local electric vehicle infrastructure. The number of parking spaces is determined by the size of the lots and type of use.

Idling reduction policy for fleet vehicles

Per the City of St. Louis Park Idling Reduction Policy, city fleet vehicles must be off when the vehicle is unattended or parked in order to reduce discretionary idling to the greatest extent possible. This policy was adopted to reduce vehicle emissions, reduce fuel consumption and spending, improve air quality and respiratory health, reduce engine wear and tear, lower the risk of vehicle theft and lead by example. There are some exceptions to this policy.