When you leave the room, turn out the energy-efficient lights, and then drive the city hybrid to the certified-green firehouse before unchaining your bike for the commute home.

That's essentially what a new 102-page Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, to be presented to City Council today, tells government to do if it is to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2023.

The plan's planks "really make government operate in an efficient manner that's not only friendly to the environment, but is also going to be friendly to the taxpayer," said Councilman William Peduto, who co-chaired a task force that wrote the plan. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and state Sen. Jim Ferlo also were co-chairmen.

"This report's going to set goals and standards for large sectors of the Pittsburgh community, not just for government," said Mr. Ferlo. It includes sections on going green for businesses, colleges and universities.

Mr. Peduto's office wrote legislation endorsing the report. Council plans to hold a special meeting and a public hearing on the recommendations, and vote in August. A privately paid attorney would then craft amendments to the city code to enact the plan.

City government and its agencies cause 248,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, according to the report. That's 4 percent of the carbon dioxide produced in the city limits. The Pittsburgh Housing Authority's many apartments, city government's buildings and 1,000-vehicle fleet, and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority's plant and pumps are the biggest energy users.

The report says the city should hire a "sustainability coordinator" -- something the mayor embraced last week, while earmarking $100,000 for green improvements.

That person would make sure new city buildings are certified as environmentally friendly and the Planning Department trains staff in green building tenets.

The report says all city-subsidized private construction should be required to be certified as energy efficient.

The city should replace bulbs in street lamps and signs with more efficient light-emitting diodes. The energy-bleeding City-County Building should get a full conservation revamp.

Replacing the city motor pool's 20 aging Chevy Cavaliers with Malibu hybrids would save fuel. Bike racks at city buildings and in business districts would encourage pedal power.

Many cities have adopted the 20 percent carbon dioxide reduction goal, said Mr. Peduto.

"This sets it up so that Pittsburgh can be basically on par with what other cities are doing," he said.

To get ahead of the curve, the city needs to take what it's learned "to our streets and neighborhoods," he said.

Rebecca Flora, executive director of the Green Building Alliance, directed the task force that wrote the report.