ARTICLE
Reading the daily headlines this past week, we are seeing a distinctive haze over California caused by the numerous fires in our state. The Park Fire in northern California counties (Butte, Tehama) continues to blaze with only 30% containment as triple digit weather is on tap for this week despite the heroic efforts of 6,528 firefighters. The Park Fire hit a historic place reaching over 401,301 acres, passing our 2020 SCU Lighting Complex Fire as the fourth largest fire in California (and we all know how damaging that fire was to our community). Sadly, the Park Fire was caused when a man allegedly pushed a flaming car into a ravine. At the home front, the Santa Cruz City Council held a Study Session on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the “Energy Efficient Renovations Development” focusing on cost-effective retrofit for single family housing. The concept is to decarbonize housing to address new energy construction codes. According to the staff report, “the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has introduced zero-emission appliance standards with a phased implementation beginning in 2027. These standards aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality by targeting residential and commercial appliances, including heaters and water heaters, to transition towards cleaner energy sources. By 2030, all new space and water heaters sold in California are expected to meet zero-emission standards. This initiative is part of California's broader strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.” Back in 2022, the City adopted its Climate Action Plan with a legal target to reduce emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030 and an attempt to be carbon neutral by 2035— ten years ahead of the state’s target date. When the city staff began working on the adoption of the CAP, looking at emissions from buildings was the first target to consider building performance standards and when it would be most appropriate to make this shift in building system replacement at the time of a building permit. The staff report notes: “Considering that 96% of the City’s building stock is residential and 87% of residential buildings are single family homes older than 1978, staff determined that large renovations are one of the best opportunities to make improvements to single family homes resulting in reduced energy use and emissions and improved comfort and satisfaction. With the incentives available and planned, the proposed energy efficient renovations ordinance is the first of what may be several policies coming forward to regulate energy use in existing buildings in order to reach the CAP 2030 targets.” Following other cities that have adopted decarbonization plans for homes, it was arrived that a building permit would need to be pulled for any ‘major additional or alteration would be triggered by any addition of 350 square feet or more of a floor plan. If the homeowner initiates this addition to a permit application they would choose to install from a number of energy efficiency measures to meet a point score system. According to the report, the State requires at least one cost effective option. The idea is to link the reduction of emissions for a residential building through a baseline permit process mandating energy efficiency standards. Community outreach is a critical part of getting “community buy-in.” On June 13, 2024, staff conducted outreach with the Mayor’s Community Climate Action Task Force, where ten individuals participated. In early June 2024, staff mailed postcards regarding the development of the proposed ordinance to over 500 builders, designers, contractors, and developers listed in the City’s business database. On June 27, 2024, staff conducted a virtual outreach meeting for builders, designers, developers, and contractors who do business in the City of Santa Cruz. On July 10, 2024, staff conducted a virtual outreach meeting for the public with only six participants, despite heavy promotion of the meeting. All materials from the outreach described above are included on the City’s Building Decarbonization webpage: https://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Home/Components/Topic/Topic/11316/3916 During the study session, city council members asked very specific clarifying questions about the approach and the typical cost of adding 350 square feet to a single family house. An average cost estimate was assigned to the study at approximately $130,000. I listened to the city council discussion but it was unclear to me how that dollar amount was selected. It is early in the community engagement process and the staff noted to the city council they will continue to do more outreach to homeowners, real estate, and construction stakeholders. I understand the city staff's rationale to find solutions to the vexing problem of reducing greenhouse gas emissions set by the state’s target dates. Compliance must be a two way process and supported by the homeowner and the greater community. Now back to the California Fire season. According to the CalFire incident report in 2024, there have been 363,456 emergency responses, 4,911 wildfires, 798,231 acres burned, only 1 fatality (thank goodness), and 1,165 structures damaged or destroyed. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024. The fire season is not just a summertime problem, it is a yearly concern in the western United States and specifically California. While I applaud the City of Santa Cruz’s efforts to address climate change and emission reduction through a regulatory fix, it does not diminish the challenges of wildfire for our communities.
Reading the daily headlines this past week, we are seeing a distinctive haze over California caused by the numerous fires in our state. The Park Fire in northern California counties (Butte, Tehama) continues to blaze with only 30% containment as triple digit weather is on tap for this week despite the heroic efforts of 6,528 firefighters. The Park Fire hit a historic place reaching over 401,301 acres, passing our 2020 SCU Lighting Complex Fire as the fourth largest fire in California (and we all know how damaging that fire was to our community). Sadly, the Park Fire was caused when a man allegedly pushed a flaming car into a ravine.
At the home front, the Santa Cruz City Council held a Study Session on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the “Energy Efficient Renovations Development” focusing on cost-effective retrofit for single family housing. The concept is to decarbonize housing to address new energy construction codes. According to the staff report, “the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has introduced zero-emission appliance standards with a phased implementation beginning in 2027. These standards aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality by targeting residential and commercial appliances, including heaters and water heaters, to transition towards cleaner energy sources. By 2030, all new space and water heaters sold in California are expected to meet zero-emission standards. This initiative is part of California's broader strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.”
Back in 2022, the City adopted its Climate Action Plan with a legal target to reduce emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030 and an attempt to be carbon neutral by 2035— ten years ahead of the state’s target date. When the city staff began working on the adoption of the CAP, looking at emissions from buildings was the first target to consider building performance standards and when it would be most appropriate to make this shift in building system replacement at the time of a building permit. The staff report notes: “Considering that 96% of the City’s building stock is residential and 87% of residential buildings are single family homes older than 1978, staff determined that large renovations are one of the best opportunities to make improvements to single family homes resulting in reduced energy use and emissions and improved comfort and satisfaction. With the incentives available and planned, the proposed energy efficient renovations ordinance is the first of what may be several policies coming forward to regulate energy use in existing buildings in order to reach the CAP 2030 targets.”
Following other cities that have adopted decarbonization plans for homes, it was arrived that a building permit would need to be pulled for any ‘major additional or alteration would be triggered by any addition of 350 square feet or more of a floor plan. If the homeowner initiates this addition to a permit application they would choose to install from a number of energy efficiency measures to meet a point score system. According to the report, the State requires at least one cost effective option. The idea is to link the reduction of emissions for a residential building through a baseline permit process mandating energy efficiency standards. Community outreach is a critical part of getting “community buy-in.” On June 13, 2024, staff conducted outreach with the Mayor’s Community Climate Action Task Force, where ten individuals participated. In early June 2024, staff mailed postcards regarding the development of the proposed ordinance to over 500 builders, designers, contractors, and developers listed in the City’s business database. On June 27, 2024, staff conducted a virtual outreach meeting for builders, designers, developers, and contractors who do business in the City of Santa Cruz. On July 10, 2024, staff conducted a virtual outreach meeting for the public with only six participants, despite heavy promotion of the meeting. All materials from the outreach described above are included on the City’s Building Decarbonization webpage: https://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Home/Components/Topic/Topic/11316/3916
During the study session, city council members asked very specific clarifying questions about the approach and the typical cost of adding 350 square feet to a single family house. An average cost estimate was assigned to the study at approximately $130,000. I listened to the city council discussion but it was unclear to me how that dollar amount was selected.
It is early in the community engagement process and the staff noted to the city council they will continue to do more outreach to homeowners, real estate, and construction stakeholders. I understand the city staff's rationale to find solutions to the vexing problem of reducing greenhouse gas emissions set by the state’s target dates. Compliance must be a two way process and supported by the homeowner and the greater community.
Now back to the California Fire season. According to the CalFire incident report in 2024, there have been 363,456 emergency responses, 4,911 wildfires, 798,231 acres burned, only 1 fatality (thank goodness), and 1,165 structures damaged or destroyed. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024. The fire season is not just a summertime problem, it is a yearly concern in the western United States and specifically California. While I applaud the City of Santa Cruz’s efforts to address climate change and emission reduction through a regulatory fix, it does not diminish the challenges of wildfire for our communities.