Sustainability Now! | Jake Medley | Louisville Mayor's Office of Sustainability | 3-16-26

This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, is thrilled to be in conversation with our city’s new Sustainability Director! In January, Jake Medley was named as the new Executive Director of the Louisville Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (OS). Learn more about the Office of Sustainability and access tons of great resources at https://louisvilleky.gov/government/office-sustainability Jake first joined the OS in February 2024 and has been driving efforts to expand its programs. He filled in as interim director back in September, and has kept busy: • Reorganizing the office budget and allocating funding for a new energy efficiency & weatherization program for Louisville residents to be deployed this year. • Helping deliver a record $11.5M in green economic development in 2025 between the Solarize, Cool Roof, and EPAD programs. • Helping secure residential solar net metering protections for Louisville ratepayers, including over 300 Solarize participants. Read more: https://louisvilleky.gov/news/mayor-greenberg-names-new-executive-director-office-sustainability Don’t miss Earth Fest on Saturday, March 28th, from 1:00 - 5:00pm, at Alberta O. Jones Park, 744 S 23rd St. OS, Parks Alliance of Louisville, and partners are bringing back this Louisville Earth Month kickoff event. This community festival will feature free local burritos on compostable diningware, music, performances, art, sustainability activities, a park tour, green business displays, and local resources - all in celebration of our planet. Learn more at https://bit.ly/EarthFest2026 Currently, Jake is helping launch the Louisville Green Bank - the first of its kind in Louisville. The Mayor’s Sustainability Office houses a collection of programs that serve as the foundation of the budding Louisville Green Bank: * The Solarize Louisville Program provides a 12-18% discount on residential and small commercial solar panel installations. The program is in its 5th year of operation and has produced over 300 projects. Solarize Louisville had a record year in 2025, likely due to the sunset of residential clean energy tax credits. Credits are still available, however, to commercial projects so long as they are in service by the end of 2027, so the program will be catering outreach to non-profits interested going solar. * The Cool Roof rebate program is an initiative in which Louisville is a national leader. Cool Roof products reflect sunlight and keep properties cooler, requiring less work from AC systems in warm weather. Since 2017, Metro has delivered over 400 Cool Roof projects to residents, non-profits, and businesses covering a total of 1.4M sq ft of Louisville roof top. Louisville Metro has deployed over $800K in rebates and every dollar returns an estimated $5-6 in avoided energy costs over the lifetime of a cool roof. * EPAD – The Energy Project Assessment District is a property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing tool that structures sustainability upgrades for commercial projects in end of year property tax bills. We had two EPAD projects downtown last year totaling $7.5 million worth of energy upgrades (Derby City Lofts and Zen NuLu). Metro is working through a grant process now that will unveil the Green Bank in an official manner while setting us up for additional phase of funding. As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com