Visit us on the web! You'll find case studies, issues of the month, workshop materials, archived newsletters and updates on local government activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Contra Costa County
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Join Our Mailing list!
info@cccclimateleaders.org
Contact us:
925.631.0597
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The 4CL Program offers:
Quarterly workshops for education and networking opportunities
Monthly newsletters for environmental updates, pertinent local information, and interesting upcoming events
Ongoing website containing the CCC city environmental developments, archived newsletters, and other educational resources
www.cccclimateleaders.org
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Thank you to our sponsors!
PG&E
QUEST
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Newsletter Contributors:
Content:
Anne Cavazos
4CL Consultant
Carla Dowell
QuEST Contributor
Editor:
Katherine Bracken
4CL Volunteer
Contributing editors:
Lynda Deschambault
Executive Director 4CL
Newsletter articles are collected from a variety of sources and are cited via a website reference when applicable
To add content or events to our next monthly newsletter, please send an email to
info@cccclimateleaders.org
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East Bay Energy Watch (EBEW) News
Energy Star Portfolio Manager Helps Reduce Energy Expenditures. If you've noticed your facility's energy costs inching up, you're not alone. Average annual energy expenditure per square foot rose by about 18 percent between 2000 and 2010. Using energy as efficiently as possible becomes even more important to a healthy bottom line. The Portfolio Manager tool, part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star program, is allowing facility managers to track energy and water use across a portfolio of buildings. These tools can also aid municipalities as they decide on capital investments. View the Full Article. Contact Tim Bankroff timb@quest-world.com at Quantum Energy Services & Technologies, Inc. (QuEST) to see how Energy Star Portfolio can improve the bottom line for your municipality.
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Funding
Does Your City Have an Inventory of Its Trees? You might want to consider what the city of Long Beach, CA is doing. Their city is eying carbon credit revenue from its trees. California's seventh-largest city may try to bolster its strained budget by maintaining its 393,000-tree urban forest and selling carbon credits to regulated greenhouse gas emitters in the state's forthcoming cap-and-trade program. View the Full Article. Funders' Network Local Sustainability Matching Fund - $250,000Application Due: October 1, 2012. Eligible Entities: Proposal must be submitted by a team of at least two partners who are (1) the sustainability director of a city (municipality) or a county and (2) the local, place-based foundation. Description: The Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network have joined together to launch a Local Sustainability Matching Fund. The fund will provide matching investments from national foundations on a competitive basis to build partnerships between sustainability directors and local place-based foundations to advance discrete sustainability initiatives. Visit Funders' Network. Sustainable Design Assessment Technical (SDAT) Assistance for Communities.Application Due: Two review cycles; upcoming due date is October 12, 2012. Eligible Entities: Committees with a cross-section of residents, local government agencies, businesses, institutions, and community groups. Description: The American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Center for Communities by Design is seeking potential partner communities that can demonstrate the capacity to convene a diverse set of community leaders and stakeholders for an intensive, collaborative planning process focused on long-term sustainability. Visit the AIA SDAT page. Grants Available for Drought Adaptation Projects. Applications Due: October 15, 2012. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the availability of Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to demonstrate and/or enhance system resilience to drought. Recipients must match CIG funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis with cash and in-kind contributions. Eligible entities include Indian tribes, state and local units of government, non-governmental organizations, and individuals. For details, Click here For more information. Contact Andrew Seth at (202) 261-9881 or andrew.seth@strategiesdc.com.
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Local City News
Contra Costa County Climate Action Plan Open House. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, 7:00 - 9:00 pm, Oakley City Council, Chambers, 3231 Main Street, Oakley, CA. The Climate Action Plan will guide the County's efforts to save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support public health. Learn about the Climate Action Plan and how it can support local businesses and community health, give feedback on policies and programs that may apply to individuals, homes, and businesses and, stay in touch with the planning process. Participants can expect to spend 30 minutes viewing the open house exhibits. For the County's website, Click Here.
Stakeholders Work with The City Of Concord To Create A Smart Vision For The Concord Naval Weapons Station. The Concord Community Reuse Project designates nearly 70 percent of the area as protected open space- about three times the size of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Developers will cluster new neighborhoods around the nearby North Concord BART station. Frequent bus service and bicycle lanes will connect these neighborhood clusters, giving residents a host of transportation options to get to and from jobs, shops and schools. View the Full Article.
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Other City News
California's Central Valley is Ill-Equipped to Cope with Climate Change. Central California is dominated by large regions unprepared for the health and economic impacts of rising temperatures. According to a new Pacific Institute report, 70 percent of Merced County residents are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. That's second only to Imperial County, where that number is 90 percent. View the Full Article. Ambitious Regeneration Project in Atlanta- A Model for Sustainable Cities Worldwide. In a region many view as the poster-child for urban sprawl, we also find the Atlanta BeltLine, a uniquely innovative, sustainable and ambitious idea that has begun to address not only the physical challenges of sprawl, but also to change Atlanta's cultural expectations for itself and for its future. View the Full Article. Early Results of Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Strategies Tested By Small- and Medium-Sized Cities. "Powering the New Energy Future from the Ground Up", describes innovative financial mechanisms, pilot projects, and clean energy marketing strategies that can serve as models for other communities around the United States. Many of the communities profiled in the report used federal grants to jump start their clean energy initiatives. Among them are 14 recipients of EPA's Climate Showcase Communities grants. View the Full Report. Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Report Tracks Cities' Greenhouse Gas Emissions Initiatives. Many of these municipal governments - plagued by heat waves and flooding - recognize the urgent need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. View the Full Report. |
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Legislation
U.S. Sets Higher Fuel Efficiency Standards. The final version of new rules requires automakers to nearly double the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks by 2025. The standards - which mandate an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon for the 2025 model year - will increase the pressure on auto manufacturers to step up development of electrified vehicles as well as sharply improve the mileage of their mass-market models through techniques like more efficient engines and lighter car bodies. View the Full Article.
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Impacts
Contra Costa County Climate Leaders (4CL) workshop on Public Health and Climate Change. There is an important role for local governments and the co-health benefits of climate change mitigation, adaptation measures, and implementing public health policy into Climate Action and General Plans . If you missed our May workshop, the presentations and handouts and a fact sheet are available on the 4CL website. Health Hazards of Heat Waves, Wildfires and Other Extreme Weather. Medical experts say hot weather takes the heaviest toll on senior citizens, young children and people with heart and lung illnesses. Diabetics, the obese, and people using common medications also face a greater risk when the heat rises. In other words, tens of millions of people are vulnerable to extreme heat. Is your city prepared to assist its residents. Be sure to include public health in your climate action plans and general plan updates. View the Full Article. West Nile Virus and the Future of Once-Tropical Diseases. With temperatures likely to rise in California (in the places that are already hot, but also, on the coast), it means more mosquitoes and the West Nile pathogen. Cities should have a plan for these types of climate change impacts on health and residents in your community. View the Full Article. Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. Infectious disease outbreaks, acts of terrorism, social unrest, or financial disasters, in addition to natural hazards, can all lead to large-scale consequences for the nation and its communities. One way to reduce the impacts of disasters on the nation's communities is to invest in enhancing resilience - the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events. This report addresses the broad issue of increasing the nation's resilience to disasters and community's roles. View the Full Report.
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Economics
Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. A 2º warmer world will experience more intense rainfall and more frequent and more intense droughts, floods, heat waves, and other extreme weather events. Countries will need to adopt measures to adapt to climate change. How high will the price tag be? Studies to date have provided only a wide range of estimates, from $4 billion to $109 billion a year. View the Full Report.
5 Tips to Reduce Transportation Fuel Use. For municipalities, energy is a significant portion of expenses and cutting fuel costs is an important way to help the bottom line and preserve your budget. Few reliable substitutes for gasoline and diesel fuel exist. It is imperative to implement a conservation program to control costs. View the Full Article.
The Water That Fuels California's Power Grid. California. There's a hidden cost to our energy supply: water use. In fact, every time you turn on a light, it's like turning on your faucet. It's been calculated that it takes 1.5 gallons of water to run a 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours. View the Full Article.
New York and Other Cities Are Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise. Critics say New York is moving too slowly to address the potential for flooding that could paralyze transportation, cripple the low-lying financial district and temporarily drive hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. View the Full Article.
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Science
Storms threaten ozone layer over U.S., study says. For years, atmospheric scientists were careful to keep the two concepts (Ozone Loss and Climate Change) separated. Now, a recent study from Harvard shows they're intimately connected. View the Full Article.Arctic Ice Melting at "Amazing" Speed. Scientists in the Arctic are warning that this summer's record-breaking melt is part of an accelerating trend with profound implications. Last month, the annual thaw of the region's floating ice reached the lowest level since satellite monitoring began, more than 30 years ago. View the Full Article.
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Upcoming Events
"Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled" Workshop.
First or second week in October. Location: TBD. Please join fellow Contra Costa County decision makers to hear about best practices to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hear from other local governments who are addressing the issue through general plan updates, Climate Action Plans, transportation policies, education, outreach, and practice! Presented by Contra Costa County Climate Leader's (4CL) and sponsored by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Quantum Energy Services & Technologies, Inc. (QuEST).
The Basics of Benchmarking in EPA's Portfolio Manager.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 11:00 am, PDT
Whether you are looking to benchmark a K-12 school, fire station, courthouse, supermarket, or office, learn how easy it is to start benchmarking your building's energy consumption and tracking its improvements in over time with EPA's Portfolio Manager. Webcast registration.
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Makes On-Line Course Available: Local Communities Adapting to Climate Change.
Ongoing online course that uses videos, interactive exercises, and self-assessments, to introduce tools for climate change adaptation planning, assessing climate change risks, climate down-scaling, collaborative decision-making, and scenario planning. Decision makers can use these practical tools for everyday land use, development, and infrastructure decisions to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience. The course is free. Information and registration.
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