Saratoga News
News
Saratoga employees participate in fighting changes in climate
By Shannon Burkey
As people all around the world continue to realize the effects of global warming, the city of Saratoga has decided to take an active approach to combating climate change.
City staff members have taken workshops and joined task forces to figure out ways to improve climate control and promote energy efficiency in Saratoga.
"Everybody today is concerned about the climate and the use of energy," said interim recreation director Michael Taylor.
Taylor recently took part in the Association of Bay Area Governments' "Implementing Energy Efficiency Projects and Developing Climate Action Plans" workshop and said he returned to the city highly motivated to make changes.
"I came back thinking that there is more we can do; it's just a matter of having a climate action plan," he said.
With the recent passage of Assembly Bill 32, in which the state set a goal of reducing its global warming emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a climate action plan seems to be on everyone's mind.
Assistant city manager Barbara Powell recently joined Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network's Climate Protection Task Force, put together to help cities and counties develop strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions within their communities.
"We're thinking about how are we as cities going to reduce our carbon emissions," she said. "We need to establish a baseline on what they are now and develop ways to reduce them."
Doing its part to help make a difference in the environment is nothing new to the city, which has a number of environmentally friendly projects and programs.
"We've been doing quite a few things already, even without this legislation," Powell said.
To reduce energy use, the city has retrofitted exit lights and replaced lighting ballasts and light bulbs in city buildings with more energy-efficient models and installed energy efficient LED lighting in all its traffic lights. The city also owns a fleet of natural gas-fueled vehicles.
Water conservation is also another thing the city has been watching closely.
"We've put computerized controls on all irrigation systems in our parks," Powell said. "This helps establish whether or not water is needed and controls the water to a precise degree."
The city recently ran a water line from a well in the Heritage Orchard to the city's community center so it can begin to utilize that source of water.
"We've really been doing things all along, but now we're ready to take it to the next level," she said.
Among other things the city would like to see is an environmentally friendly city purchasing policy, encouraging residents to incorporate green building aspects into their new homes and installing solar panels on city buildings.
"We really need to look across the spectrum at what we can be doing," she said. "It's become so obvious that our lifestyles are creating a huge negative impact on the environment, and we all need to look at what we can do to mitigate the effects."
