Page 35 - Sonoma County Gazette Oct. 2019

On September 17th, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors formally joined cities, counties, and countries across the world in declaring a climate emergency, establishing this issue as a top priority.
Over 1,000 local governments representing 219 million people in 19 countries have issued resolutions to solidify their commitment to mobilizing an emergency response commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis.
While we continue to work daily on disaster preparedness and clean-ups
from the 6 years of floods, wildfires and droughts attributable to climate change, we also need to look at the larger picture and address the systemic issues that continue to contribute to warming our planet.
We are working on the development of local policies that will drive the greatest impact to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. These actions will be considered at the Board of Supervisors’ Strategic Priorities discussion on January 28, 2020 along with other Strategic Priorities for 2020. In the meantime, there is plenty we can all be doing. Below are two great programs with Sonoma Clean Power that you can use to become part of the solution.
Sign up for Evergreen! One of a Kind Evergreen from
Sonoma Clean Power – 100% local, renewable electricity, 24/7!
EverGreen utilizes solar energy from Petaluma and Cloverdale when the sun is shining, and geothermal energy from the Geysers when the sun goes down. This is unique because the majority of energy providers still use natural gas to subsidize their renewable options at night.
Contact Nelson Lomeli at Sonoma Clean Power – his email is:programs@ sonomacleanpower.org if you are interested in financing to add EV charging stations to your public location.
Our warming climate brings to mind the 2nd anniversary of our devastating firestorm that occurs this month. The fires began on October 8th, and were out of control for weeks. So many of our community members have been affected – either directly or indirectly. Families and small businesses are still feeling the economic hit across the county. Many are dealing with the mental health challenges wrought by the fires. Remember to be kind – give your fellow community members a break, remembering that we do not know who is affected and how.
The premium for EverGreen is $0.025/kWh, so for only about $13 more per month (based on an average residential customer), you will significantly reduce your carbon footprint without having to make any other changes to your lifestyle.
How Local Jurisdictions are Doing Their Part
The City of Sonoma provided early leadership by upgrading their municipal accounts to EverGreen in 2017. Since that time, the City Councils of Cotati and Sebastopol, voted to upgrade all their municipal accounts to EverGreen. The Town of Windsor and the County of Sonoma have also upgraded a number
of accounts to EverGreen and the City of Santa Rosa is currently discussing the subject. Switching to EverGreen helps us build more local clean energy facilities and support existing facilities in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
During our high-risk season, practice fire safe measures.
How Constituents Can Upgrade to EverGreen
Check out the Fire Safe Sonoma webpage, www.firesafesonoma.org/, which has a wealth of resources and practical guidelines. Always remember that just one spark can ignite a fire in the dry conditions we have right now.
If you are a Sonoma Clean Power customer, upgrading to EverGreen is the single easiest and most important step you can take today to help reduce your carbon footprint. By choosing EverGreen, you eliminate nearly all greenhouse gas emissions from your electricity use. Join the clean energy future and power your life with EverGreen. Call or click: 1 (855) 202—2139 | www. cleanenergyfuture.club SCP will do the rest!
Sonoma Clean Power is managing a project from the CALeVIP program. This project provides funding and support to build out the network of EV chargers throughout Sonoma County. Funding is available for a wide range of eligible applicants and the funding allocated $6 million over 3 years for level 2 and 3 chargers – many of which will be placed in District 5 areas that are currently underserved, rural and low income communities.
Stay safe out there.
V
October 17 ~ Lower Russian River Municipal
Advisory Council Meeting. Agenda and location will
be published on the website and posted at the meeting site at least 72 hours before the meeting date.
INFO: http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Lower-Russian-River-
Municipal-Advisory-Council/ and Elise VanDyne at Elise. VanDyne@sonoma-county.org. 707.565.2241
CALeVIP for EV Charging
Chargers can be placed in most locations that are accessible to the public 24/7, with priority given to spots that currently are lacking charging stations.
This is an exciting opportunity to help grow the capacity for electric vehicles and reduce the significant impact of gas powered transport.
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