HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/3/2019 Item 18, Veium
Purrington, Teresa
From:Eric Veium <eric@carbonfreeslo.org>
Sent:Friday, August
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Support: Clean Energy Choice for New Buildings
Honorable Mayor and Council Members,
The people of the great City of San Luis Obispo time and time again have demanded that our city take decisive
and substantive action in the fight to stop the climate crisis. Our Mayor and Council Members were elected by
that demand, all major city goals directly serve to systematically address the crisis, and numerous surveys of
public opinion have reinforced the call for our city to take a leadership role in the fight for our future.
CLIMATE CRISIS IS LOCAL AND PERSONAL
The threat of the climate crisis is both local and personal. Our region has firsthand lived experiences of the
impacts of the climate crisis through the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters such as wildfire,
drought, torrential rains, mudslides, and sea level rise. The climate crisis is the single greatest threat to our
local economic vitality and the American promise of social mobility. Today, it is costing our families and
communities dearly by draining financial and human resources from our state government and local
communities by having to prepare for, respond to, and recover from these recurring and ever worsening
disasters, by having to relocate and rebuild critical infrastructure, by having to rebuild instead of build, and by
both the drag and shocks to our small businesses and regional economy caused by the uncertainty and
instability the crisis creates.
A BETTER WAY FORWARD
For those voices who call on you to maintain the grip of the fossil fuel economy - for their own good reasons, or
because they are dependent on it, or because they do not yet see that a different economy is here and
growing, or do not yet know that technology has advanced, or do not believe that a different future is
necessary, we ask that you compassionately reply to them; that world is passing and there is a better way
forward.
JUST AND EQUITABLE TRANSITION
The SLO Climate Coalition is deeply committed to a just and equitable transition to a carbon-free economy.
This means a focus on solutions for those of us who have been left out or at the bottom of the waning fossil
fuel economy, those of us who have been most impacted by that economy, whether by toxic impacts to our
own family’s health from the air we breathe and the precious water we drink, or the climate upon which the
stability of our entire economy and way of life is dependent. This also means a just transition for those whose
lives and livelihoods are currently dependent on the fossil-fuel economy. Thankfully, today in California, there
are over five times as many workers employed by the clean energy economy than by the other. We are
committed to doing whatever needs to be done to support those workers and their families, especially our
union brothers and sisters.
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CARBON-FREE HOMES ARE HEALTHIER, SAFER, AND MORE AFFORDABLE
We see no need here to re-litigate the technical merits of the proposed New Building Electrification reach-code.
Significant work has already been done by your professional staff to identify, review, and evaluate findings and
recommendations from the California Energy Commission, NRDC, Utilities, architects, engineers, and other
professional practitioners to determine that what is being proposed is not only technically possible and cost-
effective today, but healthier, safer, and more affordable. Your staff has gone to great lengths to share draft
policy language and to request and integrate feedback from community stakeholders that in our view has
resulted in a thoughtful and measured policy proposal.
OUTSTANDING ISSUES
Residential “Commercial Kitchen” Loophole - the current definition of all-electric building creates a
significant loophole to bypass mixed-fuel requirements simply by installing a “commercial kitchen”
within a residential building. Recommendation: The definition of commercial kitchen should be
updated to close this loophole.
Residential Solar Under-sizing Issue - The 2019 Energy Code update requires a minimally sized
(undersized) solar pv system be installed. It is unclear how difficult or unnecessarily costly it would be
for a homeowner to expand the size of the system post-construction. For an insignificant marginal cost,
a properly sized system (1-2 kW larger) could be installed at time of construction that would provide
significantly greater electricity cost savings and certainty for the occupants over the life of the system.
Recommendation: The reach code should be updated to require properly sized solar installations on
residential buildings.
CHOICE IS MAINTAINED
We feel it necessary to reiterate that the policy honors the principle that choice be maintained. Through this
policy, if for whatever reason an individual chooses to power their building on community and climate polluting
fossil fuels, they maintain the choice to do so. Their choice however is not without consequence for themselves
as it is not without consequence for their community.
CARROTS AND STICKS
We also agree with other stakeholders that both carrots and sticks are important for this policy to be
successful. We support adoption of incentives that mutually support our housing, transportation, and carbon
goals. We also request that for the benefit of our community, the city administration and staff support the
developers/builders that were early to lead by providing a commitment to extraordinary responsiveness and
support through all remaining project phases to minimize risk and ensure that completion of their projects are
as successful as possible.
We strongly encourage your unanimous support and thank you in advance for your leadership. Please let us
know how we can continue to support your leadership in the future.
Highest regards,
Eric Veium, O n behalf of the SLO Climate Coalition
Chair
SLO Climate Coalition
(805) 835-3669
eric@carbonfreeslo.org
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