Many a step in the march of sustainability within facilities has occurred in California. The state has been a cauldron of developments, both regulatory and technological, that have helped organizations operate more efficiently and minimize their impacts on the environment. As they say, “As goes California, so goes the nation.”

But managers and owners watching the green movement for to determine how it might affect their facilities also should keep an eye on Chicago. The city has become something of a model for large metropolitan areas seeking to make commercial and institutional facilities greener through the use of vegetative roofs, as just one example.

Now, the city has rolled out the Chicago Climate Action Plan. It calls for updating the city’s building code to promote energy efficiency in facilities, as well as installing photovoltaic systems on municipal facilities, among other measures.

California might have earned the reputation as a hotbed of new ideas when it comes to sustainability. But more and more, Chicago is proving to be the place where ideas go to become reality.