• May 26, 2023
• Civic Data

Boston Globe: Boston city employees get green light to use AI 

Boston’s Chief Information Officer Santiago Garces has shared the city’s new artificial intelligence guidelines, which encourages city employees to ‘responsibly experiment’ with AI tools. City workers can use tools like ChatGPT to write emails, create original images, and summarize documents.  

WHYY NPR: New green job training prepares future Philly workers for climate transition 

A workforce development program in Philadelphia aims to provide valuable skills training while helping increase the reach of climate-friendly residential retrofits. According to city data, the biggest source of carbon emissions in residential buildings is natural gas, so the Energy Coordinating Agency trains Philly residents in the (high paying) installation and maintenance of heat pumps, a greener electric system for both heating and cooling.   

CITY LAB: Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance Adds 20 Mayors 

Twenty new mayors from North, Central, and South America joined the City Data Alliance, a six-month program from Bloomberg Philanthropies that combines executive education and individualized coaching for mayors looking to level up their data practice. The Alliance aims to help local governments better leverage data to improve public services, measure progress on important goals, and better understand resident needs and sentiments.

SMART CITY DIVE: NREL energy audit tool may help cities meet climate, building decarbonization goals 

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), a lab of the US Department of Energy, released a new tool to help municipalities collect and maintain data, like information on heating and cooling systems or tracking progress toward decarbonization goals. BuildingSync, the new tool, will also help municipalities streamline energy audits, as it standardizes information and makes it easier to collect and compare.