Featured News
Stockton Goes Green
By Christine Tien, Deputy City
Manager, City of Stockton
California
is leading the charge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. What is a
greenhouse gas? Gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
According to the California Air Resources Board, California is the world’s
12th largest producer of greenhouse gases.In 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 32 mandating
that the state reduce its greenhouse emissions 25% by 2020.
This reduction will be phased in beginning in 2012.
Nationwide, city officials
are also advancing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Stockton’s Mayor Chavez signed the US
Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2006. Mayor Chavez was one of the
first Mayors in the Central Valley, if
not the first, to sign this agreement. Cities that sign the agreement
must commit to reduce climate change.
To date, more than 800 Mayors have signed the
US
Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
Stockton
is getting noticed as a city that means business when it comes to green.
Popular Science magazine ranked Stockton
49th as the Greenest City in America earlier this year. Stockton was the only city in the
Central Valley that made it into the top 50.
Why is
Stockton so interested in going green?
-
Central Valley
residents live in one of the most polluted air districts in the
nation. Stockton wants better air quality for our
residents.
- Going green makes
fiscal sense. Being more energy and water efficient reduces utility
and water costs in the long term. It saves money for
everyone—businesses, government agencies, and residents alike.
-
Stockton wants to
attract green companies to Stockton. We want our
residents to work locally. We want to develop a “green collar”
workforce that is currently in high demand.
-
Stockton
wants to be on the cutting edge on this new green age.
Stockton Council’s Green Vision Statement
In January 2008, the Stockton City
Council adopted the following vision statement:
Stockton will be
a vibrant diverse city with a high degree of educated community members
who are engaged in civic life.
Stockton will increase its
economic base and be on the cutting edge of consuming and producing
‘green’ technology. Stockton will be defined as a city with a “Can
Do” philosophy where safety and quality of life is enhanced by our
incorporation of technology at every level.
General
Plan 2035
In December 2007, Stockton approved its General Plan 2035 which
includes many greenhouse gas reduction policies. The new General Plan
encourages new subdivisions to use wider sidewalks to create a
pedestrian/bike friendly environment. The General Plan’s Village concept
reduces traffic to other areas of town and encourages people to walk and
ride their bikes. Other policies include promoting high residential
infill and transit oriented development, and co-location of community
facilities. Implementation measures include providing incentives to
developers that will reduce the costs of infill development, expediting
permitting, and establishing City energy efficiency and performance
standards which exceed minimum standards mandated by the State.
Green Municipal Buildings
In January 2008,
Stockton
became the first city in the
San Joaquin Valley
to require all new City buildings over 10,000 square feet to achieve at
least LEED Silver certification.
All new buildings over 5,000 square feet will be required to
achieve at least LEED certification.
All new buildings under 5,000 square feet and all renovations to
existing buildings must incorporate as many LEED standards as feasible.
The
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building
Rating System™ developed by the United States Green Building Council
(USGBC) encompasses five green design categories: sustainable sites, water
efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor
environmental quality. For more information about LEED, go to
www.usgbc.org. Stockton also sponsored an Introduction to
LEED training conducted by Loren Aiton, a Boardmember of the USGBC
Central California chapter. The training can be viewed at
www.stocktongov.com/GoGreen.
On
March 1, 2008,
Stockton
also issued a Request for Qualifications to create a vendor pool of
contractors that can implement energy efficiency measures such as
lighting retrofits, and heating and air conditioning equipment through
Performance Contracts, and install solar photovoltaic systems on City
property through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement. Six companies
submitted proposals including 3 solar companies and 3 energy performance
contractors. We are also currently exploring the possibility of wind
turbines.
Green
Residential Buildings
In April 2008,
Stockton approved the Crystal Bay Residential
Project located in northwest
Stockton. This residential development project
will adhere to the GreenPoint Rating system developed by the nonprofit
Build It Green organization.
A GreenPoint Rated home is graded on five categories:
energy efficiency, resource conservation, indoor air quality, water
conservation, and community. If a
home meets minimum point requirements in each category and scores at
least 50 points as verified by a Certified GreenPoint Rater, it has the
right to bear the GreenPoint Rated label.
Currently standards have only been developed for newly
constructed single-family homes and multifamily homes in
California. GreenPoint Rated for remodeling and
existing homes is under development and is expected to be rolled out in
the third quarter of 2008. For more information, go to
www.builditgreen.org.
Recycling
Construction and Demolition Debris
The state requires that all cities divert 50% of their waste material
from landfills. Construction
and demolition accounts for approximately 20% to 30% of all waste
disposed of in the landfills.
In 2007, Stockton began to require that all persons
seeking a new building or demolition permit must identify all debris
material at the time of the permit application. All new building
construction projects and complete demolitions are also required to
recycle at least 50% of materials generated.
In July, the Solid
Waste and Recycling Division of Public Works hired a Project Manager to
work with contractors and provide information for recycling locations
for materials such as asphalt, brick, cardboard, concrete, dirt, drywall
and sheetrock, glass, lumber, plastic, roofing materials, metals, mixed
recyclable materials, yard trimmings and salvaged items such as
fixtures. For more
information, go to http://www.stocktongov.com/recycle/pages/CDprogram.cfm.
Non-potable water system for new
development
The City requires that all new
development must construct a non-potable water system. Non-potable water
is water that has not been treated to drinking water levels such as
water recycled from a wastewater treatment plant. This reduces demand on
drinking water, and reduces wastewater discharge.
The non-potable water can be used
for irrigation purposes.
Warm-Mix Asphalt Paving Demonstration
Project
In September 2007, the City sponsored a
demonstration of warm-mix asphalt paving along
Fox Creek Drive
from Morada to Chelmsford
Way
and Kirby Lane
from Saffron Way
to Chelmsford Way.
The immediate benefit to producing warm-mix asphalt is the reduction in
energy consumption required by burning fuels to heat traditional hot mix
asphalt to temperatures over 300 degrees.
European countries have already been using this technology for
some time as a method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Continued use of this technology could have a significant impact
on transportation construction projects in the San Joaquin Valley
where air quality is very poor.
Biodiesel
Fleet
In January 2008, the City began phasing
in a biodiesel blend into our diesel engines. Biodiesel is a
biodegradable, nontoxic
alternative fuel, produced from resources like vegetable oil.
What are the benefits of using biodiesel? Biodiesel reduces
carbon emissions, decreases our dependence on oil, contains no
petroleum, can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a
biodiesel blend, and can be used in diesel engines with little or no
modifications.
Currently,
two thirds of our City diesel engines are currently using a B5 biodiesel
blend (95% diesel and 5% biodiesel). We have also begun to put B5 into
air compressors, brush chippers, auxiliary engines, and some parks
mowers.
On May 1, 2008,
we will be increasing the blend to B20 in our units that have been using
B5 for a few months.
So far,
we have not had any problems with the B5 blend and no modifications have
been made to any of our engines. We reviewed the fuel usage for a random
sampling of the City's diesel powered trucks and found that the
biodiesel fuel (B5) is improving mileage by about .5 MPG, or about 10%.
Measuring Stockton’s carbon footprint
In January,
Stockton
became the first city in the
San Joaquin Valley
to join International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
(ICLEI). ICLEI is an international association of local, national and
regional government organizations that have made a commitment to
sustainable development.
More than 90 cities in
California
have joined ICLEI. Area
Cities that have become members include
Sacramento,
West Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, Riverside, Livermore and Pleasanton.
By joining ICLEI,
Stockton
has committed to measure its carbon footprint, adopt an emissions
target, develop and implement an action plan, evaluate progress and
update the plan. Stockton will begin
collecting data to determine our carbon footprint in the next few weeks.
The process is expected to take several months.
For more information on the city’s green
initiatives and to learn about our progress, please go to
www.stocktongov.com/GoGreen.
|
