San Leandro adopts Climate Action Plan

San Leandro adopted a climate action plan last month continuing the progress being made by cities in the region. A point of contention however was the proposed requirement to implement efficiency measures in homes like weatherstripping when they are sold. This time of measure is a potentially powerful way to address improving the energy performance of existing homes - important because existing buildings account for about 40% of the consumption of energy.

The Oakland Tribune has an article focused on the point-of-sale element.

The city is moving forward with a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 2005 emissions levels by a target date of 2020.

The effort, called the Climate Action Plan, states that "global warming is unequivocal and primarily human induced." It lists several threats posed by that warming and presents a blueprint for action.
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The council voted unanimously to approve the plan, but with revisions that replaced the point-of-sale requirements with recommended standards designed to facilitate reductions in energy use.

The challenge here is that on the one hand the new homeowner will benefit from such measures with increased comfort and reduced cost and the point of sale is the most straightforward point at which to implement such a requirement. On the other hand there are two possible issues: it may create additional fees and secondly it may add time to the sale (which no one wants, especially real estate agents). These latter issues are solvable if the cost of efficiency were assumable into the loan (in which cases the services would be quick to catch up to the opportunity and quick service would be valued).