Since the end of 1993, when a new administration took the lead of the city of Palermo, the energy and environmental issues started to rank quite high in the priority list. Several initiatives are being implemented, such as the municipal energy plan, the development of energy conscious building regulations, the diffusion campaign for solar water heaters, the introduction of(indirectly) solar powered electric cars, the strong push in the participation to E.U. programs dealing with energy and the creation of a development agency for renewable energy and ecologically viable water use. These and other successful initiatives are described, as well as the ones that failed and the reasons for successes and failures are discussed.