The historic signing of the United Nations Climate Control Accord in Paris, France in Dec. 2015 made big headlines, both nationally and internationally. Upon closer observation smaller headlines reveal that the City of San Mateo, along with other cities in both the Bay Area and the nation, have also adopted their own local climate action plans (CAP). A CAP is a comprehensive strategy for a community to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
San Mateo’s CAP adoption in 2015, followed numerous meetings that broadly engaged the community, along with the city staff and the newly formed San Mateo Sustainability Commission. While not as long as the UN COP21 Paris Accord, the city’s Climate Action Plan runs a hefty 182 pages in length.
As part of this commitment to sustainability, the city of San Mateo recently competed, in collaboration with state, universities, and nonprofits, against 21 other cities in the state, including neighboring cities Burlingame, Redwood City, and San Carlos, for the title of “The Coolest City in California.”
The Cool California Challenge is a statewide initiative designed to motivate and reward cities and their residents for reducing their carbon footprints, with prize money totaling $150,000 to go toward local sustainability projects and achieve California’s climate action goals.
San Mateo’s CAP included a range of actions to reduce GHGs. Some of the GHG reduction measures are simply encouraged, others are incentivized, and some are required strategies. One required strategy was the requirement for renewable energy systems, particularly solar, for new residential and commercial development. The plan also requires public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, increased EV adoption, and increased participation in composting programs.
Other items, at the incentive level, include car share program and increasing water efficiency in existing and new buildings.
On Dec. 11, San Mateo officials broke ground on California’s first city run biogas conversion project. This aims to produce compressed natural gas at its wastewater treatment plant for the city’s fleet of vehicles, increasing sustainable transportation in the city.
David Fink, Facilities and Fleet services Manager for the City of San Mateo, says, “I am very excited to be a part of this project … converting to clean compressed natural gas for use in vehicles is something only a few other cities have done and will will be the first [to do it] in the West.”
The $5 million project, which included a $2.45 million grant from the state, will recapture underutilized biogas and convert it into compressed natural gas, equivalent to the energy in 500 gallons of gasoline each day. This will be used to fuel a city fleet of at least 50 new clean natural gas city owned vehicles. The plant will be producing nearly 160,000 diesel gallon equivalents of biofuel each year, so the city may either expand the fleet or maybe consider selling the natural gas to anyone with natural gas vehicles, including individuals and other cities. The city will be receiving “carbon credits” for reducing our carbon output.
Fink adds, “We anticipate production and pumping of CNG in testing mode to begin mid-July with full capacity sometime late August or early September of this year.”
The competition ended March 30. While San Mateo did not win any prize money, it was a start in motivating San Mateo residents to implement sustainable practices in their city. San Mateo came in fifth out of 22 cities in the competition. Claremont won the competition, and Burlingame came in third.
