This report, issued by the Energy Depletion Risks Task Force on May 15 2009, addresses the potential impact of energy uncertainty and provides ten policy recommendations to mitigate negative effects on the City of Austin.

The thirteen-member Task Force on Sustainability is part of the city's strategic planning effort to identify and address the ways that climate change and rising energy prices will impact the government's operations, services, programs and policies. In conjunction with subcommittee members, citizens and city staff, the Task Force released this plan on March 13, 2009.

This seven-member body was charged with coordinating the assessment of San Francisco's vulnerability to energy price shocks, determining appropriate measures to mitigate municipal vulnerability, and to draft a comprehensive response plan for recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Task Force released this report and held its final meeting on March 17 2009.

The final report of the Berkeley Oil Independence Task Force, to be presented to the City Council in May 2009.

This paper on cities and climate change, published by the British Council and Global Dashboard, explores the major challenges facing cities as unprecedented urbanization, resource scarcity and climate change combine to form an unstable blend of uncertainty, opportunities and risks.

There is growing consensus that councils should be leading the national effort to tackle climate change. Councils can therefore take strategic action to reduce transport related carbon emissions (a major source of climate change) which can in turn address some of the impacts of oil price oil price volatility. The report concludes with specific recommendations to central government about how it can help local government respond to the challenges and opportunities.

Mauenheim is the first village in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg to meet its electrical and hot water needs completely locally from renewable sources. Electrical generations from biogas combusted in the cogeneration unit as well as electrical power from several solar power stations are fed into the local electrical grid. In addition to the environmental advantages of renewable energy sources, the project also has a high regional economical value: purchasing power stays local, as the value of energy stays in the community.

The City of Lawrence will create the Mayor's Task Force on Peak Oil to develop a response plan in active consultation with the community that will address both a sudden crisis-related reduction of fossil fuels and a long term depletion of fossil fuels.

In February 2007, Marrickville (a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales) adopted the Oil Depletion Protocol, committing to an annual 3% reduction in the use of oil by the total operations of Marrickville Council.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is one of the most promising options in the U.S. energy efficiency portfolio. By combining environmental effectiveness with economic viability and improved competitiveness, CHP is deployable in the near term and can help address current and future U.S. energy needs.

This report and recommendation were submitted to the City Council of Hamilton, Ontario on November 18, 2008. It details the steps Hamilton has taken to date on the issue of peak oil, and recommends the creation of a volunteer peak oil task force based on the model of Portland, Oregon. The council approved funding for the task force on December 8, 2008.

In a unanimous decision, the Nottingham (UK) City Council passed a measure acknowledging "the forthcoming impact of peak oil," and listing actions it plans to take to help Nottingham "rise to the challenge of peak oil but also encourage the city to grasp the opportunities which peak oil offers."

In April 2008, the Darebin City Council received a report on the implication for Council of Global Peak Oil that it had commissioned in July 2007. They resolved to continue the city's existing programs that enhance the city's resilience in the face of peak oil and add to them emphasis on the energy issue, to advocate to state and federal government about peak oil, and to refer the development of an action plan to budget considerations.

The final report of the Alachua County Energy Conservation Strategies Commission members delivers a list of recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners that would create an energy efficient and resource resilient community over the next 100 years.

The city of Spokane, Washington obtained a grant from the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) to fund the creation of its sustainability action plan and joint peak oil-climate change task force. The grant application details the plan and deliverables of the project, as well as providing a snapshot of the political environment of Spokane at the time.

More and more community leaders and citizens are re-thinking how local systems operate and realizing the environmental, financial and community health benefits of creating a more sustainable future for their citizens. Graduate students from Columbia University designed this handbook, released by the U.S. EPA, to help your city go green.

Feed-in tariff policies have driven rapid renewable energy growth for electricity in Europe, but have not been widely adopted in North America to date. This paper reviews the experience of six US states which have introduced feed-in tariff legislation, surveys feed-in tariff proposals in eight other states, and discusses the outlook for Community-Based Energy Development policies, which have the potential to be implemented in a way that is similar to feed-in tariffs.

This study by Warren Karlenzig, author of How Green Is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings, ranks the largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ barrel oil prices. It considers a variety of factors, including city resident public transit use, city carpooling rates, metro public transit ridership, metro area sprawl, telecommuting, biking and walking-to-work rates, and use of heating oil. This is an update of the May 2008 report.

UK-based ODAC (in cooperation with Post Carbon Institute) has prepared a new report aimed specifically at local government in the UK called Preparing for Peak Oil: Local Authorities and the Energy Crisis.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) have issued a model by-law to help cities and towns establish reasonable standards for small wind-energy development. This model applies to stand-alone wind facilities up to 60 kilowatts (kW) in capacity.