When you hear about Salt Lake City – whether that’s in a travel magazine, a business journal, or talking with people who live or visit here—you hear about our quality of life.

The importance and uniqueness of our quality of life is rooted deeper than our attractive natural landscapes and recreation opportunities—it also recognizes that Salt Lake City is a modern, progressive city, especially when it comes to sustainability.

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It may not come as a surprise then that across the county, Salt Lake City and its businesses are often viewed as leading out when it comes to ambitious and successful sustainability practices. The concepts of sustainability and high quality of life are in many ways synonymous—to live in a place with abundant local food, clean energy growth, active transportation options, energy efficient buildings, and walkable neighborhoods—these are the features of a truly sustainable city. They also make it a pretty great place to live and work—for everyone.

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And as a business located in Salt Lake City, there is a vast network of sustainability-focused organizations and infrastructure that make it easy to plug-in and take full advantage of these assets. Here’s a small sampling:

Food

  • Rip out that grass and grow some food! Hit up the experts at Wasatch Community Gardens and create a garden at your workplace for you and your colleagues to enjoy.
  • If you want to support fresh, local food systems, Utah’s Own will help you identify local food producers and where to find Utah-local products.
  • Starting a new restaurant or making a food product? Get access to a commercial kitchen with the start-up incubator Square Kitchen (grand opening this fall! Stay tuned. . . .)

Clean Energy

  • The cleanest form of energy is the energy that you save. Join Project Skyline and get access to the most advanced strategies in energy efficiency for your building, straight from the experts—you might end up winning a Skyline Challenge Award.
  • Salt Lake City has committed to community-wide 100% renewable energy by 2032—so like it or not, you’re coming along on this renewable energy ride.
  • Unlike in most cities, Rocky Mountain Power and Dominion Energy provide an automated energy data service— it’s basically a fitbit for your building that will help you save money on energy.

Transportation

  • Salt Lake City is always growing its electric vehicle charging infrastructure—there are currently 28 public charging ports for you to plug in you new E.V.
  • Interested in putting an electric vehicle charging station at your workplace? Contact Leaders for Clean Air for tips and funding partnerships.
  • Salt Lake City offers its residents the Hive Pass, a deeply discounted monthly UTA transit pass
  • Green Bike is an efficient and active transportation option downtown—no need to worry about parking or tailpipe emissions
  • Salt Lake City hosts an extensive bike route network including dedicated and protected bike lanes.

Recycling

Local Economy Advocacy

  • Salt Lake City continues to develop more walkable neighborhoods and small commercial districts, including the Central 9th District with the help of SLC Redevelopment Agency
  • Local First Utah is a leading advocate of local businesses, supporting local jobs and keeping more of our money in our economy

The tools are in place—plug into any of these assets and be part of what makes Salt Lake City so great—our thriving economy, our commitment to sustainability, and our high quality of life.

*Blog post contributed by SLC’s Department of Sustainability