2007-11-01 Mayor's Climate Protection Committee AgenCitizens Committee on U.S. Ma yM Climate Protection A reement
Mission:
1. Encourage citizens to be a part of the solution
2. Encourage City staff and citizens to conserve current resources
3. Work with the City Council to implement ideas
4. Effectively address the future impacts of climate change
Committee Members:
Citizens: Steve Bernheim, Carolyn Chapel, Wes Gallaugher, Wayne Grotheer,
Hank Landau
Planning Board: Janice Freeman
City Staff: Mayor Gary Haakenson, Steve Fisher, Sally Lider, Noel Miller,
Linda Carl
Meeting enda
November 1 2007
1.
Green building codes
Rob Chave, Planning
Manager
2.
Downtown merchants GHG reduction program and draft
introductor letter andspreadsheet
Steve B., Hank, & Wes
3.
GHG speedometer
Wes
4.
Miscellaneous
All
S.
Next month's meetiM date — Thursday,December 6
Afeet6agNotes
October 11, 2007
Present: Steve Bernheim, Carolyn Chapel, Hank Landau, Wes Gallaugher, Wayne
Grotheer, Steve Fisher, Janice Freeman, Mayor Gary Haakenson, Linda Carl
Absent: Sally Lider, Noel Miller
Also attending: Nick Brossoit and Reg Clarke (ESD), Rick Jenness, David Kaufer
1. ESD transportation and bus -related issues
Reg has been with the school district for 20+ years and has seen a lot of changes in the vehicles
over the years. He began by talking about the steps the school district has already taken toward
more efficiency in its fleet:
• Recycle all anti -freeze.
• Recycle oil and oil filters before they go to the landfills.
• Out of 138 busses, 76 have been retrofitted with DOCs using grants from the State; 50
have been retrofitted with a system that recycles fumes; 22 were purchased with 2007
standards and are the cleanest -burning busses available to purchase (the district plans to
wait for 2010 standards for replacing other vehicles).
• Switched to low -sulfur diesel.
• Perform emissions testing once a year.
• Busses are loaded at high capacity, which means fewer busses are on the road.
Over $3M in transportation funding is subsidized by school levies.
ClimateProtection/MeetingNotes 10110 7-doe
Biodiesel will be looked at eventually as an alternate fuel source; however, right now the cost is
too high to switch. (Wayne mentioned that he'll see if the school district can obtain biodiesel at a
reduced rate through the State DOT.) Hybrids aren't an option because the industry hasn't
moved in that direction as of yet. Right now the cost of a hybrid bus is about $100K, making it
cost -prohibitive for most districts.
Small busses get 8 — 10 MPG; bigger busses get 5 — 8 MPG. Computer emission controls may
improve over time and increase efficiency.
There was some discussion regarding making it less convenient for parents to drop kids off at
school. Nick mentioned that safety is the primary concern, and sidewalks and bike paths tend
not to extend beyond the school's boundaries, making it less safe for kids to walk or ride their
bikes from home. Hazardous walking areas used to get hazard funding from the State; but this
funding source has been dramatically reduced. For ESD it was cut in half, from $600K to $300K
a year. The formula for designating a hazardous walking area includes lighting, sidewalk
conditions, roadway traffic, etc.; however, it does not take into account sex offenders that may
live in the area.
EWHS was using Community Transit instead of yellow school busses, but that program is being
phased out. Scriber HS is the only other school in the district using CT.
The district has not yet determined its carbon footprint.
Busses are the safest mode of transportation for kids to get to school; the district encourages
parents to drive less and use busses more. Reg ended with this statistic: 48M kids attend school
in the nation; half ride busses and half get to school other ways. Of the 24M who ride the bus,
9-12 kids are ]tilled around school busses each year. Of the other 24M, 700 kids are killed in
accidents.
2. Downtown merchants GHG reduction program
The committee (Wes, Hank, and Steve B.) reported that they are working on the business
assistance program and a user-friendly base model. They are also working on an introductory
letter and spreadsheet to give to the businesses. They will email a draft to the group next week
for review. For the businesses, the first step is to quantify their GHG emissions; the second step is
to implement ways to reduce that number. The committee will provide guidance, but the
business owner will determine how comprehensive they want to be in developing their GHG
data. The committee will speak to the Chamber membership at their April luncheon.
3. Earth Day ideas
Steve B. would like to see a car -free zone, perhaps in a small area of downtown, such as the
street just east of the Anderson Center playfield. Booths could be set up (maybe a solar -oven
display) and vouchers could be given out for small trees (that don't grow too tall and block
sunlight for solar panels). Wayne mentioned that seattlecan.org has a lot of material and
sources. Janice added that we should encourage pea patches and vegetable gardens; perhaps we
could have a community planting event or other related activity. Sally indicated that April 19 is
the annual beach cleanup and Earth Day is always April 22. If we prefer, we can have
"Edmonds Earth Day" and have it on a day other than the 22"d.
Miscellaneous
Carolyn: PUD has a generous rebate program for upgrading to energy -efficient appliances. They
also have energy "readers" that plug into appliances to read energy output. They retail for about
$20, but they seem to be difficult to get from the PUD. Carolyn suggested that this committee
consider purchasing several to give to the local businesses.
On October 21 at 2 p.m., "An Inconvenient Truth" will be shown in the Plaza Room.
Climatel9•olectioll/MeetingNotes101107.doc