Gas leaf blower use has decreased in my neighborhood. How about yours? Recently hired Los Altos Police Department code enforcement officer, Karan Malhi has been busy responding to calls throughout our community for the past few months. He encourages residents to call the non-emergency police number (947-2770) when violations are in progress. Officer Malhi has learned to check backyard activity when a landscape service provider tells him he is using electric only. Sometimes there is gas blower use out of sight in the back and side yards. If patterns in your neighborhood are predictable, or if you notice them in parks or school grounds, please log the complaint into the City e-mail system here and they will try to come at the expected time. What happens following a complaint call? The responding officer leaves a bright yellow card for the resident, noting that a complaint was made and citing the code.  In large type in Spanish, it is noted that gas-powered leaf blowers are illegal in the City of Los Altos. Then a “Courtesy Notice” from the Police Department is mailed to the homeowner including information on the City ordinance and administrative citation fines. GreenTown Los Altos is supporting this enforcement effort with a public education campaign. Flyers have been printed and you can see them at the GreenTown bike valet tabling at the May 18 Art in the Park and throughout the summer at the Farmers’ Market and other GTLA tabling events. See you at the GreenTown table at these events!

by Cheryl Weiden Deep Decarbonization. The terminology is not exactly widespread but it’s significant because its impact is wide and deep. And Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) is addressing this climate change issue by providing you rebates through saving programs. Interested? Read on! Most Los Altans are now receiving their electric energy from SVCE, which has reduced community greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions by more than 16 percent through its carbon-free electricity purchases. But a lot more is needed. On April 4 Green Town Los Altos hosted Don Bray and John Supp of SVCE to discuss the company’s plans to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases in its service area. It’s part of its mission! The audience was very engaged and especially interested in the heat pump water heater and other rebate programs. Some key takeaways: About Silicon Valley Clean Energy Learn more about SVCE in this video. Who does what? SVCE sources clean electricity. PGE delivers it. The customer pays SVCE for the energy and PGE for the delivery. Customer can purchase one of two options: Green Start, 50% Renewable (Solar and Wind), 50% Hydro. Green Prime 100% Renewable Cost of combined bill (SVCE + PGE) is slightly less than PGE alone for Green Start and slightly more for Green Prime Investing in local, utility-scale renewable energy. Initially SVCE procured the clean energy from existing facilities, but is now contracting for the construction of new renewable facilities. It recently signed two long-term agreements for the largest utility-scale, solar-plus-storage projects to be built in California. These projects will combine solar panels with large batteries to store energy that the sun produces during the day so that more clean energy can be discharged onto the grid during times of high-energy usage in the evening. Long-term carbon reduction goals SVCE’s Strategy to Achieve Deep DecarbonizationPlans for the future California has set a goal of reaching 50% reduction in GHGs from 1990 levels. SVCE has a plan to help achieve this. By 2030, Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s programs aim to cut energy-related emissions in half from the 2015 baseline. That would prevent 2 million metric tons of CO2-equivalents from being emitted into the environment each year. Strategy to meet these goals can be seen in the slide to the right. What does this look like in 2019 The FutureFit Home Reach Codes – Building electrification and EV Charging infrastructure All Electric Showcase Grants Future Fit Heat Pump Water Heater Rebates (starting in July) – up to 75% to replace a gas water heater with a heat pump water heater, including upgrading your electrical service panel to 200 Amps Learn More Here Learn more about SVCE’s programs and read its Decarbonization Strategy for our community here. For more information or to get involved with GreenTown’s energy and carbon reduction programs, email us at energy@greentownlosaltos.org.

The GreenTown Los Altos campaign to eliminate these highly polluting gas-powered leaf blowers from our community recently got a major boost. The Los Altos Police Department has hired a code enforcement officer to improve enforcement. Currently, the enforcement is complaint-driven and dependent on residents to call the police non-emergency number to report gas-leaf blower use. Please call 650-947-2770 when you see a gas-powered leaf blower used in your neighborhood. In addition to disruptive and unhealthy noise levels, gas-powered leaf blowers contribute 2 very significant health hazards. They spew toxic exhaust emissions into the air and fill the air with harmful particulate matter.  Insignificant amounts? No way! The California Air Resources Board finds that “For the best-selling commercial leaf blower, one hour of operation emits smog-forming pollution comparable to driving a 2017 Toyota Camry about 1100 miles, or approximately the distance from Los Angeles to Denver.” The CA Air Resources Board predicts that by 2020, leaf blowers and other small gas engines will create more ozone pollution than all of the passenger cars in the state posing “the next air quality threat“. And if you’re wondering how to make changes, ask your gardener to use a rake and broom or an electric blower. Some neighbors purchase electric blowers and/or batteries for their gardeners. Help make the Los Altos community healthier for residents and workers. #Leafblowerban #Banleafblowers #LosAltos #LosAltosHills #LosAltosleafblowerban

Last year’s internships were so successful, we’re proud to announce our slate of 2019 Summer Internships. Click here to watch the video with last year’s interns. Organizational Overview GreenTown Los Altos is a community-based nonprofit focused on educating and inspiring people in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills to embrace environmentally sustainable practices. Started in 2007, GreenTown Los Altos achieves its mission through educational efforts, programs and policy work focused on helping the community reduce waste, water, energy use, and car trips. GreenTown’s success depends on having a strong group of volunteers involved in and helping lead the activities and the programs. Framework Ten week Internships at 20 hours per week for four students working in teams of two.  They’ll work on our summer outreach programs and on an independent project related to our areas of focus. Click on the video to see last year’s interns discuss their experience. Details This is a paid internship, $15/hour for 20 hours/week. The work will be done from home, with meetings and activities each week in Los Altos or Los Altos Hills. The intern will work with our Executive Director Kris Jensen to coordinate activities, handle administration and provide guidance.  They’ll also work with several GreenTown subject matter experts over the summer. A capstone presentation of accomplishments and recommendations is required at the end of the Internship Schedule Application Window:  March 1 thru April 15. Interviews: April 15 thru 30. Acceptance Notification: May 1 thru 5. Term starts as early as May 15 and can end as late as Sept 15. FAQ Vacations can be accommodated during the summer as long as the Intern can work a minimum of 7-8 weeks. Interested? To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to Kris at kris@greentownlosaltos.org.

GreenTown supports affordable workforce housing because it reduces commuting traffic, a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions, and affordable housing will necessarily be smaller housing, contributing less environmental impact in its construction as well as in the consumption necessary to fill the larger space. The evening started with the nine minute video, Los Altos – A Place to Call Home? because it puts a face on the problem. It shows the very real problems of people who work in our town and finishes with Joe Simitian telling us why this matters. You can find the video at here. Randy gave examples of successful projects in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City and elsewhere. These projects ranged in size and were designed to blend with the neighborhood by usi Mitali talked about the “missing middle.” We have single-family homes on one side and large urban projects on the other, but not much in the middle. She showed examples of good looking duplex, four-plex and larger units that could fit in a residential neighborhood. She also showed example A video of the discussion will be available in a couple of weeks. It will be on the website above, and also shown by KMVT. What’s next? We need to track developments in other cities, follow State bills and regulations, and of course track anything happening in Los Altos. There is a lot to track so your help is needed. If you are interested, please email here. It can be as little or as much as you like.

We’re all about shrinking our collective carbon footprint (we even have an evening event about it which you can register for here) which is why finding these rebates felt like serendipity! Do you know that there are many sources of FREE Money and FREE Services to help you increase your home’s energy efficiency, save money, and reduce your carbon footprint? Thanks to crownthecrowd rebates for the following list: US Department of Energy Home Energy Score Provides homeowners, buyers, and renters directly comparable and credible information about a home’s energy use. Like miles-per-gallon rating for a car, but energy versus gasoline. There’s a $200 rebate towards Home Energy Score Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) Up to $5000 in rebates for eligible energy efficiency upgrades such as insulation, and high efficiency furnaces and water heaters Pacific Gas and Electric Rebates $50 rebate for a smart thermostat that replaces a manually operated thermostat $50 rebate for smart thermostat that replaces a programmable thermostat $300 rebate for high-efficiency electric pump storage water heater Up to $5000 in rebates for energy efficient upgrades that lead ro minimum 10% energy savings California Energy Commission Askdrpower.com Easiest Way to Save on Electric Bill No hardware installation or purchases & few lifestyle changes as possible Available as an app or on web browser HomeIntel Audit funded by Pacific Gas and Electric Services are no cost Focuses on reducing energy & utility bills throughout the year through simplest possible steps for each unique home The following two offers have income caps: Sacred Heart Community Energy Service FREE house energy analysis from specialists who assess energy saving opportunities FREE energy-efficiency upgrades, including the possibility of big ticket items PGE Energy Savings Assistance Program FREE house call from energy specialists to assess energy savings opportunities FREE energy-saving upgrades, including the possibility of bit ticket items · #Carbonfootprint #rebates

Hope. That was one of the main messages of a GreenTown-sponsored talk on “Ocean Plastics: Circular Economy and Green Chemistry Solutions” on Wed., Jan 23 at the Los Altos Library. Julie Noblitt, a long-time advocate for reducing plastic waste, and the Energy and Climate Director of Acterra, a Palo-Alto based regional environmental organization, presented facts on plastic waste, the dire state of the oceans, and offered a glimmer of hope. The crux of Julie’s talk was to highlight, not only what we can do as individuals to address the problem of rampant plastic waste, but what companies and creative entrepreneurs are doing to help mitigate the problem. In addition, Cambria Bartlett, a 14 year-old youth advocate active with the organization Heir to Our Oceans spoke about the work of their organization in educating people and policymakers about sustainable alternatives. If you don’t know about them, you should. The problem: Since the advent of plastics, and in particular, single-use plastics, 8 million metric tons have entered our oceans. Nearly 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year Only about 10 percent is recycled in any meaningful way The solutions: Julie highlighted a few big solutions that she is watching evolve. Good alternatives to plastic More and more bioplastics, plant-based plastics and edible/degradable substitutes are becoming available. Examples include styrofoam substitutes made out of mushrooms, from Ecovative and straws made out of marine-edible seaweed, from Loliware. Back to the drawing board: paper straws from Aardvark and other manufacturers. Dealing with existing plastics Forty (40) percent of clothing is plastic. When these plastics are washed, microfibers are released into our waterways. The CoraBall, can be thrown in with the laundry to collect these fibers before they go out in the wash water and into our waterways. Adidas has found an answer, teaming with Parley, to create shoes and jerseys made of plastics collected from the ocean

Interested in reducing health risks from air toxins at your child’s school? GreenTown can help! Word of the health risks to children from air toxins in idling vehicle emissions is spreading and schools are taking notice. The LAHS GreenTeam is conducting an Anti-Idling Campaign in early February and GreenTown Los Altos will be there to help. Three other schools have made inquiries and asked for materials to inform parents of the dangers of idling. In 2018, GreenTown conducted surveys with the Los Altos Environmental Commission of idling cars at LAHS to quantify the amount of idling that was occurring and to estimate the resulting level of toxins and CO2 emitted. GreenTown shared the results with the LAHS Green Team and provided resources for a campaign at the school. Students designed signs, flyers, stickers, and window clings and worked with the school administration to install signage in the drive-through pick-up lane. To understand more about the issue, we recommend two short videos and the Los Altos Environmental Commission Report: An EPA video (7 minute) that and explains the issues and dangers of vehicle idling. A KRON4 newscast about a Pleasanton school anti-idling campaign. Los Altos Environmental Commission Report with results of the surveys If you are interested in helping your school reduce air toxins at pick-up and drop-off, contact us here and join the campaign.

Darryl Willis of Google connects with a few of the LAHS Green Team members. Youth is rising! Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden has gotten a lot of media attention lately for holding adults accountable for the climate crisis. Through her strike against climate change and harsh words to world leaders, she is ramping up the urgency in the mind of the public. “You should feel like the house is on fire,” she notes to leaders at Davos.  And her words are having an impact!  This type of youth-activism gives me a great sense of hope and promise for our future and the future of our planet. I feel similarly inspired and hopeful after attending the fifth annual, “Students for Green High Schools Conference” at Google’s Sunnyvale Campus on Saturday, January 26th. Organized by the Los Altos High School Green Team, the conference is a testament to the power and promise of youth!  GreenTown Los Altos has been a proud sponsor of this conference for the past two years. According to club Co-President, Anya Gupta the goal of the conference is to bring environmentally-minded students together to inspire and learn from each other to strengthen the culture of sustainability on [high school] campuses. Ninety attendees from twenty schools and organizations attended the conference–the largest showing since the conference started. Plenary speakers included: Darryl Willis, VP Oil, Gas and Energy at Google, shared Google’s efforts to increase renewables, including that the company’s data centers are now run by 100% renewable energy. Did you know that behind the U.S. and China, data centers are the third largest consumer of electricity? Willis also gave a sneak peak into several energy-saving Google X projects. Students staffing the registration table. Gulshan Kumar, Director of Sales at Pathwater, described the company’s journey to combat the single-use plastic water bottle with a low-priced, reusable, aluminum alternative. Pamela Leonard, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE)’s Communications Director reminded participants that electricity in Santa Clara County is 100% carbon-free! She also shared SVCE’s ambitious goal of significantly reducing regional carbon emissions as well the community energy agency’s approach to getting there. From a baseline of 2015 emissions, SVCE has already reduced regional CO2 emissions by 16.7 percent! In addition, four schools and one youth organization presented a summary of the activities that they are focusing on along with some of the challenges they have encountered. A few highlights include: LAHS’s Anti-idling Initiative. This initiative, in partnership with GreenTown, was motivated by a Pinewood environmental club presentation at the 2018 conference. Mountain View High School, along with a few other sch Speaker Gulshan Kumar of Pathwater. ools, has also contacted GreenTown to discuss starting an anti-idling campaign at their school. Harker Green Team’s Buy Better Boba Campaign. Apparently, several clubs offer boba to attract potential club members. The Harker green team worked with them to provide an alternative to single-use plastic cups and straws for boba, procuring supplies for, and assembling mason jars, glass straws and straw cleaners along with a fun sticker. Boba is a bugaboo of the GreenTown Skip the Straw initiative, so this option looks promising! Burlingame’s Film Fest. Last year was the first year and it was a huge success. The Burlington Environmental Club now has significant funding for this year’s festival and has opened it up not only to Burlingame High School students, but also to students throughout the Peninsula. In addition, the conference organizers seated students in groups with representatives from several different high schools to encourage better inter-school communication. These groups also worked on brainstorming solutions to challenges offered by the organizers. These brainstorming sessions resulted in posters that were shared via social media with all participants. Plenty of networking time was allowed for participants, as well. Overall, it was an amazing conference! Students were fully engaged and learning from the presenters and from one another. During the several years that I’ve been attending this conference, I’ve seen it grow in numbers and sophistication. But perhaps the best thing about the conference is it creates community and empowers students! Being an environmentalist can feel lonely, at times. This conference provides a way for young advocates to share best practices and connect with, and inspire, each other. And that they do. By the end of the conference, I sensed a little more wind in the turbine-like sails of the student attendees who, fresh with ideas and contacts, were ready to bring wrap their campuses in “green “energy thinking.  Well done Green Team! You’ve succeeded in creating a peninsula-wide community of environmental youth that will no doubt leave our planet just a little bit better off! A big shout out to Sybil Cramer, winner of the 2018 GreenTown Environmental Hero Award for her work as liaison to the Green Team and LAHS Go Green Committee Chair extraordinaire and to club advisor Greg Stoehr, who has supported the Green Team since 1997 or before!

by Gary Hedden GreenTown led another fun Winter Solstice Night Bike Ride – our fourth. No rain, not too cold and the lights on Christmas Tree Lane were terrific, as always. We even heard some great caroling by a group going house to house. We had 44 riders, including one girl who had just turned three. Lucky her, she got pulled along in a bike cart. Everyone enjoyed the ride and one person thanked us, saying “I would never be out here at night by myself.” Another commented that the ride really helps her get into the holiday spirit. We stopped for hot chocolate at Starbucks near Stanford and headed back to Los Altos taking the bike path by Gunn High School. Thanks to our sweeper Arnold Ambiel, and our GreenTown assistants Linda Gass, Rob Steiner, John and Maddy McBirney, and Suzanne Ambiel, we were in good hands and had a delightful and safe trip. See you next year! Getting started at Peet’s. Carolers on Christmas Tree Lane. A photo stop on the way home.

Check out the great work of the Los Altos High School Green Team! #antiidling #Greenteam #LosAltosHighSchool #sign

~by Gary Hedden It may require Divine Intervention to solve the challenge of climate change, but the Green Team at St. Nicholas/St. William Church isn’t waiting. The Green Team is a small but energetic group of four – Maureen Lane, Liz Lilly, Karen Shea-Daly and Joan Sain. They have decided to take the words of Pope Francis to heart, “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions.” One little action is the recycling of waste at the Church. This is indeed a daily task and the question of what goes where is not always obvious. To help, the Green Team created clearly marked bins – compost, recyclables, and landfill – complete with examples and written guidelines. They find that people still get confused, so often they show up at events to help monitor the waste stations and keep people on track. Recently, the Church’s Green Team reached out to GreenTown Los Altos and asked, “What else can we do?” GreenTown was happy to oblige. Margie Suozzo suggested switching their compostable plastic juice glasses to paper, as compostable plastic actually isn’t very compostable. Gary Hedden suggested getting an energy audit. These are free from Home Energy Analytics and can save money as well as energy.  We noted that one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases by individuals in suburban communities is driving. Ride-sharing can help so we suggested creating a map for people interested in ride-sharing to Church events. The map will help people locate neighbors to team up with. The consumption of beef is another major source of greenhouse gases so we suggested starting a Meatless Monday campaign to cut back on red meat. Finally, we urged them to join the GreenTown Challenge, a web-based program that offers lots of ideas and a platform to help people cut their carbon footprint. The Green Team knows they can’t do everything, but they agreed to keep working on recycling and consider adding one more activity. They have our support and our heartfelt appreciation! We LOVE talking with local groups about going greener, so please reach out if your green team needs a boost and a reminder that you’re not alone. The clearly marked waste bins at St. Nicholas Church. Karen, Joan, Maureen, and Liz – the Church Green Team – with Margie.