The city of Berkeley’s push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions received laudable recognition Tuesday when the California Chapter of the American Planning Association bestowed the city with the 2010 Innovation in Green Community Planning Award.
The award – given annually by the association in an awards program that acknowledges “outstanding achievement in the planning field” – recognized the city’s Climate Action Plan. Previous recipients include San Mateo County’s Sustainable Green Streets and Parking Lots Design Guidebook and the city of West Hollywood’s Green Building Program.
“The award recognizes the community’s role in developing the Climate Action Plan and the fact that we have a plan for what we want to do,” said City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak.
According to the plan’s coordinator Timothy Burroughs, the planning process was set in motion in November 2006 when Berkeley voters passed Measure G, establishing guidelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Berkeley and directing the city to devise a plan to achieve the target.
Adopted by the City Council in June 2009, the plan identified the main sources of local greenhouse gas emissions and serves as a guide for achieving the target set by the measure.
The main sources of local greenhouse gas emissions include energy use in buildings – where natural gas is a major component – as well as gasoline transportation and solid waste being put into landfills, according to Neal DeSnoo, program coordinator for the Money for Energy Efficiency (ME2) program.
The plan established a series of ways to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent from 2000 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
“First, it has been a good fundraising tool for the city so far,” Burroughs said. “Second, the city has secured over $5 million in grants in support of implementation of the Climate Action Plan since 2009. Third, the city is working to publish metrics which work toward showing progress towards goals in the plan.”
He added that the Berkeley community played a large role in developing the plan by participating in workshops and submitting comments on a web portal based on plan drafts posted online.
“It is unique to Berkeley that our greenhouse gas emissions target is a voter-approved target,” Burroughs said.
The plan has been the foundation for several new city programs, including the ME2 and rainwater harvesting programs. The city received funding for these programs because of the plan to reduce emissions.
The ME2 program provides cash incentives to make it easier to lower the costs of energy retrofits using federal stimulus dollars awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The program provides single-family homes up to $5,000 and duplex units up to $8,500, including rebates from PG&E, to conduct energy audits and make energy efficient home improvements.
Mini-grants of up to $30,000 for multi-family buildings and commercial properties can also be obtained.
The city has also started a rain harvesting program in order to help people effectively and safely capture rainwater, Burroughs said.
“Harvesting rainwater helps conserve water and lowers your water bill by reducing your need for potable water,” he said. “The more water being consumed, the more energy is consumed and the more greenhouse gases are being produced.”