And maybe an award, too: The National League of Cities and CH2M, an enviro-engineering firm, have announced that the Go-Green Louisville initiative is a finalist for a 2009 Award for Municipal Excellence, which is given to a municipality that best demonstrates its efforts to improve in some way the quality of life for its citizens.

Under this ‘Go-Green’ umbrella, a handful of different programs are included: The Kilowatt Crackdown, whose 250+ participating buildings implement some degree of energy-saving finesse (i.e. turning off computers when you’re not at your cubicle, replacing filament lighting, unplugging cell phone chargers, maybe doing some work instead of YouTubing episodes of Small Wonder, etc.); the refashioning of Metro’s vehicular fleet with hybrid automobiles; perpetual expansion of recycling options at government buildings; and adjusting thermostats to be a little warmer in the summer, a litter cooler in winter.

All in all, it just might add up.

“Participating businesses were given Energy Star software to benchmark their energy usage,” said Kerri Richardson, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s office. “Just by doing these small things, from the get-go a building can knock off 10-percent of its usage.”

Although no “major” green projects have been announced on behalf of the private sector — no hanging rooftop gardens of Babylon or geothermal HVAC systems yet — Richardson said they’re currently looking at ways to offset the costs usually attributed to going green.

She said Johnson Controls, a local energy efficiency firm, evaluated 24 buildings in the first phase of the initiative and provided estimates and a financing plan that would utilize the long-term savings accrued, eg, by a greener air-conditioning system, to pay for that system’s installation at no additional cost. Or, as Richardson put it, “when you go green, you save green.”

We’re as shocked as you are that Metro might be onto something good here, so for more information click here.