In support of the Net Zero Carbon Emission Funding
To the Honorable Mendocino County Supervisors:
Climate Action Mendocino wholeheartedly agrees with the June 14, 2023 letter from the Grassroots Institute regarding recommendations for the use of Net Zero Carbon Emission funding.
While the installation of solar panels and battery storage for the new roof at the County Ag building might appear to be too costly. We all know that energy costs are increasing rapidly. Ensuring energy and storage capability offsets increasing utility costs and ensures future resiliency.
Affordable decarbonization loans are available through the CA Energy Commission. The decarbonization expenditures will generate savings on utility bills giving a quick pay back of the investment. Solar and battery storage should be installed for all County facilities while grant funding is available. The energy cost savings and energy efficiency of these expenditures is inordinately sensible.
The Energy Audit that WillDan offered the Board of Supervisors last year makes clear that installing energy efficient lighting systems as well as automatic turn off switches is an easy, low cost solution to reducing power use. Net Zero Carbon Emission funding makes these changes very attractive.
GRI suggests insulating county facilities for energy savings. Many homeowners and businesses have already benefited greatly by using much less energy to heat or cool. Insulation makes sense. Replacing old, energy inefficient HVAC systems with heat pumps also makes sense. Now is the time to install heat pumps to achieve energy efficiency. It is a cost effective strategy for County buildings.
Emergency fossil fuel driven generators, while traditional, are noisy, polluting, and require maintenance and fuel subject to inflation, while sitting idle most of the time as a sunk economic cost. Solar and battery storage is fixed cost, quiet, requires little maintenance while providing essential, economically valuable, service full time, yet available for the rare emergency situations.
Regarding transportation, the County has contracted with Enterprise Leasing to acquire hybrid and electric vehicles. Enterprise has not purchased an adequate number of those vehicles to accommodate the County’s needs. It’s time to sell all of the County’s fuel driven vehicles, where feasible, and require Enterprise to provide hybrids temporarily and to acquire an adequate number of Electric Vehicles for the County’s needs by next year or the year after.
Thank you for your work on EV charging stations. The more fast chargers we have in the County the more likely we will be chosen as a vacation destination that certainly affects County revenue. There’s more work to fund more charging stations, but you are pushing forward on that issue. Again, thank you.
Finally, it’s important that the County is ready for a future with many chaotic and devastating effects of climate change. Critical services are vital during those events and having electricity through solar and battery storage can provide those services. We must take steps to be resilient now as we continue to experience increasingly severe weather events.
In support of the Net Zero Carbon Emission Funding
To the Honorable Mendocino County Supervisors:
Climate Action Mendocino wholeheartedly agrees with the June 14, 2023 letter from the Grassroots Institute regarding recommendations for the use of Net Zero Carbon Emission funding.
While the installation of solar panels and battery storage for the new roof at the County Ag building might appear to be too costly. We all know that energy costs are increasing rapidly. Ensuring energy and storage capability offsets increasing utility costs and ensures future resiliency.
Affordable decarbonization loans are available through the CA Energy Commission. The decarbonization expenditures will generate savings on utility bills giving a quick pay back of the investment. Solar and battery storage should be installed for all County facilities while grant funding is available. The energy cost savings and energy efficiency of these expenditures is inordinately sensible.
The Energy Audit that WillDan offered the Board of Supervisors last year makes clear that installing energy efficient lighting systems as well as automatic turn off switches is an easy, low cost solution to reducing power use. Net Zero Carbon Emission funding makes these changes very attractive.
GRI suggests insulating county facilities for energy savings. Many homeowners and businesses have already benefited greatly by using much less energy to heat or cool. Insulation makes sense. Replacing old, energy inefficient HVAC systems with heat pumps also makes sense. Now is the time to install heat pumps to achieve energy efficiency. It is a cost effective strategy for County buildings.
Emergency fossil fuel driven generators, while traditional, are noisy, polluting, and require maintenance and fuel subject to inflation, while sitting idle most of the time as a sunk economic cost. Solar and battery storage is fixed cost, quiet, requires little maintenance while providing essential, economically valuable, service full time, yet available for the rare emergency situations.
Regarding transportation, the County has contracted with Enterprise Leasing to acquire hybrid and electric vehicles. Enterprise has not purchased an adequate number of those vehicles to accommodate the County’s needs. It’s time to sell all of the County’s fuel driven vehicles, where feasible, and require Enterprise to provide hybrids temporarily and to acquire an adequate number of Electric Vehicles for the County’s needs by next year or the year after.
Thank you for your work on EV charging stations. The more fast chargers we have in the County the more likely we will be chosen as a vacation destination that certainly affects County revenue. There’s more work to fund more charging stations, but you are pushing forward on that issue. Again, thank you.
Finally, it’s important that the County is ready for a future with many chaotic and devastating effects of climate change. Critical services are vital during those events and having electricity through solar and battery storage can provide those services. We must take steps to be resilient now as we continue to experience increasingly severe weather events.