Accelerate Climate Solutions helps the community access the resources they need to become more sustainable and combat climate change.
How long will it take to see savings from solar on a rooftop? Should you put insulation in your attic? Can an electric vehicle really meet driving needs? What tax credits, utility rebates, grants, and financing options are available? What the heck is a heat pump?
Navigating these questions can be challenging, whether it’s about saving money, reducing a carbon footprint, or both. Accelerate Climate Solutions helps one to understand, prioritize, and realize cost savings based on climate, health, and financial goals.
Accelerate Climate Solutions, a Naperville-based nonprofit started in 2023, actively identifies and promotes practical solutions that reduce carbon pollution and support a healthy environment in Aurora, Naperville, and surrounding communities. They work with decision-makers, including governments, schools, nonprofits, businesses, and individuals, to support adopting sustainable practices across energy, transportation, waste management, building development and operations, and natural resources. Connecting stakeholders with financial incentives, financing, and contractors makes adopting climate solutions easier and more affordable.
Creating a better future by looking to the younger generations
Accelerate aims to engage all generations, from students to senior citizens, in creating more sustainable communities. Accelerate Climate Solutions’ student programs to build the next generation of environmental leaders.
A keystone program for Accelerate is Building Leadership Around Sustainable Transformation (BLAST) (accelerateclimatesolutions.org/b-l-a-s-t), a challenge for high school students to develop projects that address pressing environmental problems like the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Students, working as individuals or teams, develop a project idea, get paired with a mentor, and compete for funding at the BLAST ceremony, which will be held annually in April, starting in 2024. Students benefit by learning from community members with related experience, and the community at large is inspired by these young leaders.
Accelerate also elevates student voices and prepares young environmental leaders through an internship program, which served 12 students in 2023, and through our student-led project initiative.
Partners in sustainability to make change in Naperville
Accelerate is also working with other nonprofit partners, including Blacks In Green (BIG) and Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB), to expand the adoption of climate solutions. Projects include community solar, which will help low and moderate-income residents access lower utility bills, and energy-efficient heat pump outreach and education.
Accelerate Climate Solutions’ work, at its core, addresses the gap between what CAN be done to mitigate climate change and what IS BEING done here in Naperville and beyond. Every bit of carbon pollution prevented from entering the atmosphere will mean less global warming, cleaner air, healthier residents, and a resilient economy.
Visit the Accelerate Climate Solutions website for more information about their work and for resources to help residents save money and combat climate change.
