Seeing green in action 

Want to see how techniques like green runoff filtration and other personal and local greening techniques work? Check out the Green Gallery

Steps in Burlingame 

Mike sends us this dispatch:

Late Monday evening, after most observers had left, the City Council voted 5-0 to endorse the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Rosalie O'Mahoney, who will rotate into the mayor position next year, initially expressed some reluctance, but after the other four council members expressed strong support, she voted with them. The vote was entirely symbolic at this point, with no budget or implementation attached to the resolution, but it offers a firm foundation for future action, and the city's Green Ribbon Task Force seems ready to rise to
the challenge.

The decision drew no comment that I could find in the local press, as three other long-simmering controversies crowded the agenda: the fate of the Easton Eucalyptus, a "monster home" on Hillside, and the issue of who will pay for sidewalk repair.As these issues were dealt with, passionate adherents left the meeting, and attendance was low when the council finally considered the MCPA.

Two other outcomes of the meeting were very promising, I thought. Early in the meeting, the Green Ribbon Task Force gave a progress report. It was presented by two planning commissioners (sorry, I missed their names) who seemed to be very committed to "greening" Burlingame and are considering sustainability and climate protection in the broadest sense. (Council members Nagel and Baylock, who also serve on
the committee, seem to be equally enthusiastic about this effort.) The task force will hold a public meeting at 7 pm, Thursday, September 19, to get public input. They will then expand the membership of the committee and begin working on implementation. I think this should be the next focus of our group.

Also, the results of a citizen's satisfaction survey were presented. It included this question:

Policy Question #2 To what extent do you support or oppose the following: "The City should be involved in environmentally friendly ("green") measures, such as installing solar panels on City buildings, even if the cost exceeds the projected operational savings over the life?"

Strongly support 36% Somewhat support 38% Somewhat oppose 14% Strongly oppose 12% Total 100% Note: "don't know" responses have been removed.

Mayor Nagel made reference to this result at least twice during the evening. I thought it was a very positive sign that the council thought to put this question, worded this way, on the survey, and the citizen response was surprisingly supportive. This will give us a useful argument in the future if some council members are concerned about unrecovered costs of green programs.

So our first task is complete, and our next objective will be to work with the city's Green Ribbon Task Force toward our common goals.

Ninja on Global Warming 

Encouraging all of us to recycle our swords...



Hat tip Conscious Earth

Solar fee study released  

Seeking to lower the barriers to solar, the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club just published its updated solar fee study. Solar fees vary wildly from 0 in Belmont and El Cerrito to $1,298 in Winters and $509 in Hillsborough.

The study ranks cities in a 13 county area centered around the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Some cities have taken recent action to reduce fees and make solar more affordable such as San Mateo (reduced to $225 from $1,224) and Burlingame (reduced to $309 from $1,022).

The study offers a case study:

Marilyn Thomas of Mill Valley experienced her PV purchase as so many do: as an opportunity and a frustration.

"My first motivation was to save the planet and number two was… my [utility] bill would be less expensive," Thomas said of her reasons for going solar. Seven months after Cooperative Community Energy (CCE) installed her 3.3 kW system, she was more than satisfied with its performance. "I've been paying about $5 dollars a month [for electricity]."

However, she cited a long wait and high price as the primary hurdles. "Make it easier for people to get solar and… even subsidize it," Thomas advised governments.

...Fortunately, Thomas's city has heard and answered such pleas. Starting in 2006, Mill Valley reduced its permit fee for standard PV systems to a flat $3.29—one of the cheapest PV fees anywhere. And it now issues permits over-the-counter for systems that meet its design guidelines.

Included are recommendations for cities:

After surveying various city permit processes and costs, we recommend $300 as a reasonable maximum for solar permit fees. This amount would cover most or all of the services a city must perform to ensure a PV installation meets engineering and safety standards.

The study also provides informative background on California's energy demands and mix.

Sunnyvale Mayor at next Cool Cities meeting

Just in from Barbara:

Our big news is that Margaret has arranged for our Mayor Otto Lee to discuss his plans to address reducing our city's carbon footprint at our next meeting,Thursday, August 16. We meet in the second floor classroom of Toyota of Sunnyvale at 7:15.

On August 14 at 6 PM staff presents the long-awaited Greenhouse Gas Emission Report during a City Council Study Session. We hope to attend in numbers to show interest and then to urge that reducing greenhouse gas pollution from government operations be a priority. We also want to advocate that the focus of reducing emissions be broadened from city operations to the larger community.

Our city's downtown redevelopment architectural plans go to the public on Thursday, August 9 and the planning commission Monday, August 13. The developer currently plans just three LEED certified buildings. We plan to ask for more.

Our group is intrigued by Acterra's invitation to work with them in their Green @ Home program. We hope to schedule a meeting soon.

StepItUp II

At YearlyKos Bill McKibben announced that this week StepItUp will soon announce its next day of action for November 3.

It will focus on actions around:

· Locations associated with historic American leaders (Mt Washington, MLK schools, etc)

· Goal: get politicians to make serious action commitments

· Theme: “who’s a leader”

· GW Targets: 80% by 2050, 10% in 3 yrs, no new coal, aggressive green jobs corp

Try out http://www.localcooling.com/: this neat little application helps you reduce your PC power consumption by interfacing with the power management module, and displaying the equivalent savings in kWh, Gal and Trees... The web site has nice community features to track savings across all users.

This is a good way to show manufacturers and government that energy efficiency matters to us, PC users, and it can also make a significant difference if installed on millions of PCs!

Zombie muscle, Vectrix cool

Electric vehicles are coming back. Probably most have heard of the Tesla, the home grown sport roadster.

Others are coming. At the Presidio on Thursday 8/9 you can test drive the Vectrix electric motorcycle.

You are invited to this exclusive West Coast premiere, hosted by Vectrix and British Motor Car Distributors (BMC) with special remarks from Chelsea Sexton, "Who Killed The Electric Car?" and Marc Geller, co-founder of Plug In America.

Date: Thurs., August 9, 2007
Time: 10 AM – 8 PM Test Rides
11 AM Remarks From Chelsea Sexton & Marc Geller
Place: The Presidio
Parade Grounds
103 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94129
RSVP: vectrixusa@baileygp.com

For around town options there is the Zenn. This is a good option as a second "short hop" car. After all, most driving is short local commutes. Here's a snap of Gene in Palo Alto's Zenn under his solar panel - what could be better?

And if you have any doubts about the muscle electric cars can provide, check out the Zombie.