Greenhouse Gases. The town's ICLEI Government Operations Emissions Inventory and a Community Wide Emissions Inventory have been completed. The Thinking Green Think Tank is working on a draft Climate Action Plan and continues to pursue other sustainability programs. The Environmental Programs Committee's website, www.athertongreen.net, provides information on how residents can reduce their carbon footprint and engage in sustainable practices.
The Police Department recently purchased the town's first hybrid vehicle. Future vehicle replacements will also be hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles. The Town also has in place a green procurement policy.
Atherton has collaborated with Acterra and four other cities to apply for Energy Efficiency and Conservation grant funds from the state. Acterra's Energy Efficiency Program for High Energy Homes was approved by the California Energy Commission and is scheduled to roll out this summer. The program will provide detailed analysis of a home's energy use in order to pinpoint areas of greatest savings at the least cost to homeowners. The program uses energy diagnostic technology aimed primarily at large homes with large energy utilization. The Environmental Programs Committee will focus their GreenStart implementing the Acterra home energy audits for Atherton residents. The Town is also one of the 20 cities in San Mateo County participating in the pilot California FIRST program and the ABAG Retrofit Bay Area program.
The EPC has big plans for the 2010 Live Green Challenge. Taking the program to the next step, the committee is working on a new, web-based interface that will enable its residents both to track and better meet the yearly challenge with online assistance. The 2010 LiveGreen Challenge sets a baseline, and then challenges residents to cut carbon emissions by 10% for each of the next 10 years. The new web interface will provide a menu of options and capabilities to help with this challenge. This new program will enable residents to track and analyze their energy usage automatically with a specially-designed web application that connects residents' SmartMeter data with the energy efficiency know-how being developed through the CEC grant and energy efficiency program.
Green Building. Atherton is currently working on adopting a green building ordinance and has held workshops to get local stakeholder input. The General Plan Committee formed a task force with members from the General Plan Committee and the Environmental Programs Committee. We hope to have an ordinance adopted by the end of 2010. The town has also had a Green Building Awards Program for three years. This year, Sacred Heart Prep's new Homer Science Building achieved LEED accreditation and was also a winner in the SSMC Green Building Awards. Another winner of the town's Green Building Awards, an Atherton resident has also been recognized as having achieved the most LEED credits for a residential project in the nation.
Water Conservation. In response to the State's AB 1881, the town is also looking at adopting its own landscape water efficiency ordinance. At the Town's Holbrook-Palmer Park, a new well was drilled and a new main line system installed in order to make the landscape irrigation system more efficient and meet future irrigation needs of new trees and landscaped areas.
