Uncommon leaders

Some of the most important leaders in the environmental movement are right up the road and across the bay. Worth listening to their comments about the third wave of the environmental movement.

Top green cities in the region

Two cities in the region get kudos from the EPA:

Santa Clara and Palo Alto have been named top green-power communities by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the amount of power each gets from renewable sources.

Santa Clara's municipal electric utility, Silicon Valley Power, purchased 57 million kilowatt-hours, or 2 percent of its total electricity usage, from renewable sources in 2007. That earned it the No. 2 ranking from the EPA. Palo Alto used more than 38 million kilowatt-hours to rank fifth on the EPA's list of 16 cities cited by the agency. Palo Alto gets 4 percent of its power from renewables.

Not to be outdone, San Francisco steps up:

San Francisco supervisors today gave preliminary approval to an ordinance seeking to establish enforceable greenhouse gas reduction targets for the city.

The proposed legislation, introduced by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, would set firm targets that in addition to reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, would further reduce emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2017, 40 percent by 2025, and 80 percent by 2050.

But there are in fact many steps that cities can and should be taking.

The Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club will soon be releasing a report on cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties which examines all the key steps cities should be taking. With participation of over 70% of the cities in the two counties, it will provide the first comprehensive look at progress in the region. Survey questions here.

This first report due in June will be followed by a Bay Area wide report in the Fall.

Colbert on ethanol and the energy war

Solar-wise students learn the road blocks of bureaucracy

Hillsdale High School students are learning at a young age what it's like to deal with government. Earlier in the school year, the school's Environmental Club teamed with Owens Electric & Solar with the launch of the new SOS program (Solar Our Schools), which partners Owens with school districts with installing panels on campuses and, at the same time, teaching students the promises of solar and how it can shrink carbon footprints.

Hillsdale High School students jumped on the opportunity and received an honorary Sustainability Award from Sustainable San Mateo County in March for implementing and advocating the program. The school district readily approved it. But before the panels were signed, sealed and delivered, state officials put a stop to the party.

Such projects have to be approved by the Division of the State Architect. That wouldn't be a big deal, except it's been three months and the DSA still has not responded to Hillsdale High's request. Let's hope these panels are approved and installed before students from the Environmental Club graduate.

Prius, climate, tar sands and peak oil

The Bay Area car owners buy Priuses in very large volumes, given its generally green consciousness and state incentives. The car has given the company a green halo but the company's intentions and behavior are are less altruistic than they might appear.

Overall, sales of the Prius are slowing. And the economic slowdown is also leading Toyota to push larger vehicles due to the better profit margin.

The company earns about $6,000 before taxes in the U.S. on an SUV. That compares with a $1,000 profit on a Corolla and a small loss on a Prius, says David Healy, an analyst at New York- based Burnham Securities Inc.
...
"There's a tension between pickups and hybrids within Toyota," says David Schearer, chief scientist for California Environmental Associates and a consultant on the Prius. "They want to do the right thing, but the Prius is a relatively small piece in terms of overall sales volume."

Prius sales totaled 181,221 in the U.S. last year compared with 30,000 in Toyota's original forecast when the car went on sale in 1997.

These excerpts come from an wide-ranging and informative article in Bloomberg discussing peak oil, climate, tar sands, and Toyota with Bill Reinert, who helped design Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid. Among other things the article suggests that Toyota may be delaying introduction of the plug-in hybrid for reasons of market position rather than technological readiness.

Nanosolar residential & addressing barriers

A teaser comment at the end of a detailed discussion of municipal solar on Nanosolar's blog. Hat-tip Earth2Tech which notes:

At what they say would be $1 a watt, we’d love to see Nanosolar pass those savings along to residential customers. However, in the residential solar game the upstream costs are just part of the story. Half the cost of solar on your home’s roof is for the low-tech process of sizing and installing the system.

Also, space, and therefore panel efficiency, is at a premium. Nanosolar says its CIGS cells can operate at 10 percent efficiency, while the current polysilicon panels can do around double that. So while we’re excited about any “fabulous” developments in solar, there are plenty of obstacles between thin-film solar and your neighbor’s roof.

Of course, residential solar in general would be greatly aided by removing existing regulatory barriers to solar such as creating market stability and administrative transparency. Check out the informative report from the Center for American Progress and VoteSolar.

Think: landing soon

A recent stop at Google revealed no less than five electric cars plugged into the electric panels including a Xebra, Sparrow, a pair of plug-in Prius' and some cool blue two-seater I couldn't identify.

Soon there will be more with the arrival of Th!nk It's among the promising electric cars coming our way. Cost remains an issue but hopefully that will improve soon.

The Think City, a four-seat electric car about the size of a Honda Fit or Mini Cooper, will arrive in the United States in limited numbers later this year, Lane said. Utilities such as Pacific Gas & Electric and "influential companies" such as Google will get the first ones, for testing and evaluation purposes, Lane said. (A Swedish utility just ordered 1,000 Thinks, said Jan-Olaf Willums, chief executive of Think Global.)

In 2009, the cars will go on sale to the public in the United States, although the company hasn't decided on its distribution model. At $25,000, Lane said, Think could be selling as many as 50,000 units in two or three years.

Economy slows but cleantech still hiring

The economic slowdown is spreading, including to the Bay Area in many sectors but one of the few bright spots in hiring remains cleantech firms. Venture capital into cleantech is slowing from its torrid growth but it's unclear if the slowdown is tied to caution with the economy or saturation.

The suggestion by some of economic costs for taking action simply are inaccurate according to a number of studies including one recently released by Environmental Defense Fund. And potential benefits are considerable especially given that oil continues to soar.

San Francisco solar troubles

San Francisco looked eager to get out ahead with aggressive solar incentives. But it is now running into nitty gritty difficulties. San Francisco residents have smaller roofs meaning that any individual installation is smaller and unprofitable under the innovative financing now being offered by companies like SolarCity. Add to that the differing philosophical approaches on the table:

In addition, the progressive members of the Board of Supervisors, who have all advocated a citywide sustainable energy policy known as community choice aggregation, or CCA, weren't represented on the Solar Task Force.

The fund Newsom wanted to tap for his project is also the source of funding for the community choice aggregation program, which the progressive supervisors see as the city's energy plan, which in turn constitutes a far more comprehensive response to climate change, with a goal of relying on 51 percent renewable energy by 2017.

More on community-choice aggregation here.

Get the scoop on cool stuff & offer your opinion

New local service Huddler based in Redwood City is aiming to become the go-to source for information on sustainable products. CEO Dan Gill writes:

We've recently launched with the mission of being the impartial resource for learning about sustainable technology options. I'm writing because, while we spent a tremendous amount of time and energy acquiring data on the various PV options, our current review content is sparse. I think we could work together to activate owners of existing solar installations in the area to share their knowledge to make Huddler an invaluable resource for others who are still considering their options.

They recently got a mention in EcoGeek. Worth a look.

Mt. View: NextHouse energy efficient homes

Not only are homes terrifically inefficient, so is home building. Although recent requirements for recycling materials left over from construction and demolition have resulted in improvements in the waste stream, building remains extremely wasteful.

In Mt. View you can now check out energy efficient prefab homes showcased by Dwell magazine. Not only do they result in much less waste to produce, and provide energy efficient benefits, they are attractive, less expensive than new construction, and are very livable.

The 2,400-square-foot house was built in panels by manufacturer Empyrean at its factory in Acton, Mass., shipped to the Bay Area and assembled on-site. It incorporates energy-efficient technology and sustainable materials and is the seventh in a series called the NextHouse; the project has been a collaboration with San Francisco-based Dwell magazine, which has 12 more under way across the country.

Location and details here.

Second TIME's a charm

For only the second time in its 85-year history, TIME magazine is not sporting its trademarked red border.

Covering a range of domestic and international issues on climate change, the issue includes a profile of 15 top cleantech companies. (truth is there are so many, that I'm sure many worthy companies are not on the list.) It's noteworthy that of the 15 companies listed, a full third (5) are in the Bay Area. Most should be familiar but they may not all be: Nanosolar, Serious Materials, Enphase, eMeter, and SolarCity.

Hat-tip ClimateProgress.

New climate center

New climate center to be established.

The California Institute for Climate Solutions will have a $60 million budget each year for 10 years. The money will come from ratepayers of the state's major utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves much of Northern California.

The new institute, which will seek matching funds to expand its reach, will administer research grants, work to transfer technologies to commercial businesses and develop a related workforce for these companies.

Location still TBD.

CARB puts $7.7 million into hydrogen

As previously discussed, hydrogen is not a near-term option and it's sad to see these good funds squandered here.

Earth2Tech has the story and rightly concludes:

CARB’s insistence on approaching the ZEV program in such a technology-biased way suggests the board is catering disproportionately to huge oil and car giants that can afford to dabble in floundering hydrogen technology. The California Fuel Cell Partnership includes the Big Three, as well as BP, Chevron and Shell as members.

Make money from your home solar?

One of the holy grails for distributed solar is "net-metering." Net-metering basically means that if someone consumes power they pay for it and if they produce it, they are paid for what they produce. Conceptually simple and intuitive. In California we have a quasi net-metering system where if someone produces power their bill is reduced and can go down to zero, but they are not paid for it.

There is now a bill by Marin Assemblyman Jared Huffman working its way to establish full net-metering:

AB 1920, working through California's Assembly, might mean that big utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric, would have to to write checks to customers whose solar-roof power generation exceeds the amount they use.

While PG&E is one of the best utilities nation-wide on renewable energy and efficiency, not surprisingly, PG&E is not a fan of true net-metering since it cuts directly into profits. And they are not shy about exercising political influence.

But it's actually a bit complicated as the SJ Mercury explains. The current net-metering arrangement reduces producer's bills at a premium rate of 30 to 35 cents a kilowatt-hour as opposed to the market rate of nine to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour. In other words, if payments were made at the premium rate it would amount to a significant subsidy. Huffman suggests he is open to addressing these concerns.

How is clean-tech like (not like) high-tech

John Doerr answers the question in FastCompany. Of course, the size of the opportunity provides a bit of incentive:

Energy is as necessary as water and food. In fact, it's the biggest business in the world, with $5 trillion in annual revenues.

Woodside makes a move

Woodside's council voted last week to initiate steps to reduce its climate impacts.

The new-ish Assistant to the Town Manager, Kevin Bryant, prepared a report (available starting on page 30 here) outlining the increasing role that local governments are playing in trying to mitigate climate change, as well as the steps Woodside is already taking – such as the installation of solar panels at the Town Hall and on the Library.

Woodside will jump into Joint Venture Silicon Valley's program to help cities with municipal inventories and climate action plans and join ICLEI.

The language in the staff report is a little fuzzy on whether this is only a municipal action or if it will be community-wide. The actual resolution appears to say it's the latter however in a recent survey Woodside reported that it has no plans to do so. Dealing with city operations is certainly valuable but they typically only account for about 3% of a city's emissions.

Youth and Republicans: apart on climate & ads

Like our governor, many Republicans in our region understand the urgency of addressing global warming. But that hasn't stopped the GOP from featuring events as recently as a couple of months ago called "Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming". Despite the clear calls for action by business leaders both locally and nationally, not to mention the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency, on the exceptional challenge and opportunities of climate change, sadly, it remains a topic on which many Republicans are out of the mainstream.

This is strikingly apparent in the focus group reactions to the new ads by the Alliance for Climate Protection based here in our region.
Equally striking however is the strong support shown by youth.

Millbrae buys carbon offsets

The city of Millbrae is buying carbon offsets for its municipal operations.

By joining, the City of Millbrae will offset more than 2.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide every year or more than 7,878 pounds every day...

The City of Millbrae signed up all of its eligible electric and natural gas metered accounts. These accounts include the water pollution control plant, City Hall, the library, the recreation center and the corporation yard.

This is a mixed bag. It's difficult to get excited given the flaws in the Climate Smart program.

To Millbrae's credit a prior mayor signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and they've taken some modest steps. The city does regular community education and installed a co-generation system for their wastewater treatment which runs on grease - and saves real money.

As a result, the City is projected to cut electricity use by about 1.5 million kilowatthours each year at a savings of $112,000 annually. The lower demand translates to 1,178,000 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment...

It would be really great to have Millbrae take more comprehensive action - taskforce, emissions inventory, and community-wide plan with steps such as green building. Numerous cities in the region have taken or are taking these steps including San Carlos, Burlingame, and San Mateo (San Mateo's proposed plan is here).

GM, Hummer losing traction

Escalating gas prices are taking a toll on GM. Stevens Creek Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Santa Clara is to close

In 2007, five General Motors dealers selling Buick, Pontiac and GMC vehicles in Santa Clara County sold 2,132 new cars and trucks, according to R.L. Polk registration figures. That's an average of 426 vehicles per dealership, or eight a week.

Meanwhile, the county's four Toyota dealers sold 19,141 new vehicles in 2007. That works out to 4,785 vehicles each, or 92 cars and trucks a week.

Another GM dealership also located on Stevens Creek Boulevard, Hummer of Silicon Valley, lost its franchise in March.

The weak dollar is helping some but US automakers placed their bets for years on high-margin large heavy vehicles and have repeatedly shown a lack of nimbleness in adapting to changing conditions - being late on hybrids as well - not to mention fighting anything that might require change. And Japanese auto-makers continue to eat their lunch with Toyota becoming the largest automaker in the US recently.

It IS possible to drive a large vehicle and be green like this.

Off-shore oil: more off limits?

A little good news...

The US Senate is expected this week to vote in favor of extending two marine sanctuaries to cover ocean waters off a 76-mile stretch of the Sonoma County and south Mendocino County coasts – a move that would be a major victory for California in its 50-year battle to restrict offshore oil drilling. The House of Representatives approved the measure April 1.

Annual San Mateo County report card released

Ahead of the April 12 Progress Seminar in Monterey, Sustainable San Mateo County representatives unveiled the 2008 Indicators for a Sustainable San Mateo County, the 12th annual report card that measures the county's sustainability.

This year’s report highlights some of the long-term concerns of water supply and demand. On Thursday, the report was made available at the South Bayside System Authority site , which supplies Redwood City with tens of millions of gallons of recycled water. As noted in the San Mateo County Times and The Examiner, the report found that the county’s water supply faces challenges, partly because demand is projected to increase some 20 percent by 2030. Because the county mostly relies on one source for water—a source that is approaching its maximum output—proactive conservation efforts will become imperative to meet rising demand. In addition, that water source is especially vulnerable, because climate change and drought can threaten the Sierra's snow pack.

Other indicators in the report show negative trends in agricultural production value, child care, the county’s ecological footprint and housing affordability. Positive trends include air quality, carbon dioxide emissions, green buildings and solid waste reduction.

Car of the Future: Click & Clack

Like millions of other people, I love Car Talk. In recent months I'd been wondering if they were going to say anything about global warming. Well turns out they have. Not only did they mention it on a recent show. They did a show with Nova.

Look carefully and you'll spot a (homegrown) Tesla...


Watch the whole program on PBS April 22nd at 8:00 pm or the next day on the website (along with other cool content already there).

Smart-grid beginnings: eMeter, PG&E, Google

Only in energy do the oldest technologies make the most money. This is partly because the entire supply chain is hugely inefficient at every stage. Energy is squandered in part because we simply do not have the right information.

One local company, eMeter Corporation in San Mateo, is seeing the business opportunity and drawing investment support.

eMeter Corporation today announced it has completed a $12.5 million funding round led by Siemens Corporation and joined by existing investors, Foundation Capital, and DBL Investors. With 20 million meters under contract, eMeter Corporation of San Mateo, California, provides Meter Data Management (MDM) software that enables electric, gas, and water utilities to realize the full benefits of their Advanced Metering and Smart Grid initiatives.

But this isn't some distant future thing. PG&E is beginning to move on addressing the information problem with smart meters.

These advanced meters will offer new services, Pacific Gas & Electric says: Your electricity can be turned on or off remotely. The utility will know very quickly if there's an outage. And greater deployment of "time-of-use" rates that price power based on demand will be possible.

And there's a bigger vision. If the scenario unfolds as PG&E executives and others at companies such as Silicon Valley's Echelon foresee, that meter will be able to talk to your home computer. A smart thermostat or energy-management device will connect to intelligent appliances, telling them how to operate most efficiently.

This also sets the stage for "time-of-use" rates. Hugely important, part of the problem is that everyone turns on dryers, washers, vacuums and all sorts of other equipment all at the same time. That spike in power is what drives much of the dirtiest energy supplies - frequently old plants powered up to address those high demand periods. Time-of-use rates should translate to saving money for consumers.

Another company gathering key information is Google on the rapidly approaching plug-in hybrid cars. Due to complex power regulation issues, our current grid is currently unable to handle high volumes of renewable power. Google is exploring a variety of issues around plug-in hybrids, including that the cars could play a role in helping regulate the grid by supplying some power when needed.

The latest on thin-film

An informative interview Joseph Laia, President and CEO, Miasolé (note Laia's comments on the competition):


Hat-tip Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Oil at $112

The price of oil continues its march.

U.S. gasoline and heating oil futures as well as London gas oil also hit record highs after concern about diesel supplies amid strong European and Asian demand supported crude earlier this week.

"This is a perfect storm for the energy markets, with records hit all around," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago.

There's debate in the investment community about what's driving prices with some thinking that this is an investment bubble and the "natural" price of oil is in the $60 per barrel range. But that alone would be a historic high.

But as previously noted, others are saying $200 per barrel is quite possible if there's a disruption.

SFPUC increases water conservation

Just in from Peter at the Tuolmne River Trust:

Today the SFPUC voted to increase its water conservation budget from
$1.8 to 2.8 million per year, a 64% increase! This is great news, because every gallon saved stays in the Tuolumne.

Not only is this good for the Tuolmne River, it's essential to push on water efficiency given the impacts climate will have on California water supplies.

Here's a great article on water, energy and the region based on an interview with State Assemblyman John Laird.

Optimism is about behavior: Gore at TED 2008

And to solve the climate crisis we need to solve the democracy crisis

Trees, solar story continues

The New York Times has published a second piece on the unfortunate conflict between neighbors in Sunnyvale which resulted in the felling of two redwoods due to criminal violation of California's Solar Shade Act.

There's little question that this should be a civil case rather than an inflamatory criminal case. This fed the out-of-proportion media coverage. A quick Google search shows over 20 news articles around the country including major media including not only the NY Times, but CBS, NBC and others.

But why a simple trimming of the trees was not a reasonable solution - thus saving both the trees and providing the essential clean energy - is far from clear.

But it seems that it's not over with the generally smart and environmentally-minded Senator Simitian wading in with what could be a faulty "solution":

Meanwhile, Senator Simitian’s bill is headed for a committee vote this month. It determines when trees can grow amid solar panels (if they are planted ahead of time) and when they cannot (if they are planted after a solar-panel is installed). The state, Mr. Simitian pointed out, has a law to encourage the construction of one million solar roofs. “I’m trying to avoid a million neighborhood arguments,” he said.

With 6 million acres of forest lost to global warming in Alaska alone, we should be putting solutions in place to enable clean energy as quickly as possible.

Making green jobs real

Gristmill has the story. One of the featured places actually doing it - Richmond, CA.

Doing it right: LA Community College District

Just south of us...

All colleges in the LA Community College District are going 100% renewable power.

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), serving over 185,000 students, is currently undertaking the largest public sector sustainable building effort in the United States, funded by its voter-approved $2.2 billion Bond Construction Program.

Numerous projects, all sustainably designed, are underway at all nine colleges of the LACCD, which is demonstrating its leadership by:

• Building more than 40 new buildings will meet or exceed USGBC LEED certification standards.
  
• Implementing an innovative Renewable Energy Program will take all nine colleges "off the grid" by generating all day and evening power needs through renewable energy sources on site.
  
• Incorporating strategies to conserve natural resources, including water-saving technologies, native-plant landscaping, and use of natural light and air wherever possible.
  
• Participation in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment
  
• Using the size of the program to develop a deep pool of LEED-conversant architects, engineers, and contractors.
  

Hot commodity: Arrest in theft of grease

You know things are changing when a hit at a fast-food joint isn't at the register.

Hydrogen trial balloon sinks further

Schwarzenegger's high hopes for hydrogen are sinking further. This was never a good bet - a terrific waste of money which should have gone to more viable alternatives like cellulosic biofuels or electric vehicles. The pilot hydrogen buses suggest that they are in fact very expensive to run, not to mention this being a technology that is perennially "10 years away". GM and Toyota have made clear they do not believe it is viable.

Oddly, the Air Resources Board is still pushing ahead:

Mary Nichols, chair of the state Air Resources Board, said the "hydrogen highway" program is behind schedule but still on track...

Nichols, who was not part of the Schwarzenegger team that drew up the original plan in 2004 and 2005, said her agency will meet its goal of having between 50 and 100 stations built with a partnership of state funds and private money. But it will be by 2015, she predicted, not by 2010 as originally envisioned.

Financial services getting in gear

Bank of America, headquartered in San Francisco until it merged with NationsBank in 1997, is adopting the Carbon Principles. Developed by Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley the Carbon Principles

...were designed to help lenders understand the regulatory and financial risks of greenhouse gas emissions when financing utility-sector projects, such as coal-fired power plants. The banks announced a few weeks ago their intent to use the guidelines to evaluate projects that involve public utilities, not only investor-owned utilities.

This is yet another signal that the hugely important financial sector is getting in gear to address the climate crisis. Bank of America is significant not only with regards to bringing this to public utilities but hopefully portends further moves in the consumer sector as well. Bank of America is already doing solar financing and SolarCity just announced it is providing solar panel leasing (ie: little or no upfront cost). Many other opportunities exist to make it easier for people such as energy efficiency loans as being pursued by other lenders in the region.

Bank of America's move follows a report by Ernst and Young in March on another key financial sector, the insurance industry. The report was unambiguous:

Climate change is the greatest strategic threat facing the insurance industry. Global warming causes changes in weather patterns and shifts the underlying probability of insured loss from floods, windstorms and other natural phenomena. …Climate change also affects pricing structures, reserving policies, solvency and corporate viability, as well as more gradual consequences like increased health problems.

San Jose named Solar America City by DOE

From Annie

Mary Tucker of Environmental Services who said she will be able to complete the climate protection survey today or tomorrow. Yeah!

She explained the reason for the delay is because the City of San Jose has been named a Solar America City by the US Department of Energy and that she has been visiting with members of the department here in San Jose. As my cousin says, It's all good.

Along with 11 other cities, the recognition is for "commitment and comprehensive approach to the deployment of solar technologies" and comes with $2.4 million for development of sustainable solar infrastructures. Not bad!

From the source.

PG&E to exceed renewable standard: big solar

In February PG&E announced purchase contacts for geothermal power in its efforts to meeting the 20% "renewable portfolio standard" of the state required by 2010. It's now moving ahead to build on that with a massive buy of solar power.

Pacific Gas & Electric today will announce the largest series of solar-power contracts in the utility's history. The deal, to buy as much as 900 megawatts of electricity - or enough to power 540,000 California homes each year - involves five plants to be built during the next decade.

Foster City to form taskforce

Foster City, one of the least active cities on the climate crisis (and usually among the least interested), will form a taskforce.

The City Council will discuss Monday a resolution for the establishment of an Environmental Sustainability Task Force. The council said it wanted to pursue such a task force when it discussed this year’s priorities at its Jan. 28 meeting. Foster City’s neighboring communities, San Mateo, Belmont and San Carlos, already have environmental committees to examine ways the cities reduce its carbon emission and improve its sustainability.

The committee will provide input to the City Council about communitywide environmental sustainability, which could include energy efficiency and conservation, green buildings, waste reduction and recycling, climate friendly purchasing, alternative energy and low carbon fuels and sustainable land use and smart growth.

Foster City passed an anemic variant of the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2006. The council removed any suggestion that the city might itself take any actions stating that "Foster City supports efforts of all governments to develop policies and programs to reduce global warming." Since then local residents have been collecting petitions, getting community groups involved and pushing the council to take more meaningful action. The local team includes former Foster City council candidate Huijun Ring and other dedicated volunteers. Public support makes a real difference.

Formation of the taskforce is a good step. As the San Mateo Daily Journal article notes Belmont, San Carlos, and San Mateo are among other cities in San Mateo County to take this step (also Burlingame). The next step is to ensure the taskforce is substantive in its recommendations as the one in San Mateo whose recommendations included a range of significant action including required green building standards. In this regard, the article's side-note of the San Carlos committee charge sounds suspiciously weak - to just “inspire a more environmentally conscious and sustainable community.” More on San Carlos later.