Getting Started
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Bob Blanchard - Mayor of City of Santa Rosa
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Name: In Office: Address:
Website: |
Bob Blanchard 2006 - Present 100 Santa Rosa Avenue 707-543-3020 |
The Santa Rosa City Council passed a resolution on August 2, 2005 that set a target reduction of the green house gas emissions from it’s municipal operations of 20% below 2000 levels by 2010. The City has since initiated many programs to accomplish this. Major efforts include: retrofitting all City buildings with high efficiency lighting and appliances, cool roofs, buying hybrid and alternatively fueled vehicles, longstanding and aggressive water conservation measures for residential, commercial, municipal and industrial users, implementation of the Santa Rosa Build It Green (SR BIG) Program, installation of 5 large solar energy (PV) arrays, adoption of the Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Policy, and injection of 11 million gallons of recycled water into the Geysers Steam fields. The Geysers Project produces over 85 megawatts of clean green energy each year. This represents a portion of what we do to save money, reduce greenhouse gasses, and generate clean, renewable energy.
Snapshot of Cool Achievements
- 2007: Environmentally Preferred Purchasing (EPP) Policy adopted by Santa Rosa City Council on March 20, 2007. The EPP Policy directs staff and those bidding on City of Santa Rosa contracts to get the most environmentally friendly products and services. This includes an emphasis on recycled and recyclable products, reduction of packaging, earth-friendly materials, green building supplies and practices, energy efficient appliances and locally produced products. We spend over $26 million dollars a year on goods and services and by emphasizing the environmental aspects in our purchasing process we can change the market by making these products more easily available to everyone in our community at a competitive price.
- 2007: Algae to Biodiesel project. This project has recently begun at our Laguna Treatment Plant. We are growing oil-rich algae in our treated wastewater to produce biodiesel for our growing biodiesel fleet of service vehicles. Algae helps to polish this reclaimed water by removing nitrates, phosphates, and some metals. Algae is also an easily harvested non-food crop which, when grown in wastewater, requires no additional fuel or fertilizer to produce. It also does not drive the cost of cornflakes up!
- 2005: Santa Rosa Build It Green (SR BIG) Program. SR BIG began in 2005 and is going strong. This project helps the environment in many ways by reducing energy demand, ghg emissions and using durable, earth friendly materials. We are partnered with regional and state efforts in green building to maximize our efforts and provide consistent data. This will allow us to grow responsibly.
- 2003: Solar Projects 2003 to present. The City of Santa Rosa has 4 in-place solar energy generators totaling over 100 kilowatts of power generated by the sun. We have a 5th project coming on line very soon.
- 2002: Geysers Recharge project 2002 to present. This truly unique project sends over 11 million gallons a day of our reclaimed water to geothermal steam fields north of town. The water we send each day increases the production of this clean green energy production facility by 85 megawatts per year. This is a critical piece of our role in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions in our community.
- 1992: Water Conservation 1992- present. This continuing project has been extremely successful in reducing the amount of potable water we use in domestic, commercial, agricultural. municipal and industrial activities. It is estimated we conserve over 1.3 million gallons of water each day. This is critical as it reduces the amount we have to treat. Reduction in treatment results in significant energy and greenhouse gas reductions.
- 1992: Internal energy efficiency projects 1992- Present. This on-going project embraces all energy use in offices and other city buildings and accounts for significant savings in energy, ghg emissions and money. In addition, we have shifted all of our traffic signals to LED lights. This saves us $400,00 per year in energy costs and reduces our ghg emissions by 1,100 ton per year.
A Cool Quote
"The City of Santa Rosa is continually implementing policies, projects and programs which will allow us to flourish for generations to come. We are blessed with an educated constituency, inspired City staff and elected leaders who are dedicated to providing a strong, healthy future. I am proud to lead our City Council and staff in every way I can to promote climate protection goals, energy efficiency, development of renewable energy sources, conservation of resources and sustainable growth. These are fundamental aspects of our charge to provide the best customer service possible for our citizens now and for those who will follow."
