Mike Grim, Carlsbad’s newly appointed Climate Action Plan administrator, gave an update at a recent City Council meeting on the city’s current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At a Glance

• State legislation requires all cities in California to develop a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Carlsbad’s plan is one of the most detailed and measurable plans in the San Diego region.
• The plan includes things the city can do to use less energy as well as steps the community can take.
• The city is starting implementation, and staff plans to provide an update to the City Council on the first year’s progress and results in September 2017.

More Info State law says cities must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 40 percent of the 1990 levels by 2030.  To address this law, the City of Carlsbad developed a Climate Action Plan in conjunction with the update of the city’s General Plan, which provides a blueprint for future land use and transportation policy in Carlsbad. Both were approved by the City Council in September 2015, following eight years of extensive technical studies and community involvement. “Sustainability is one of our community’s core values and something the City Council committed to back in 2007 by adopting the city’s sustainability guiding principles,” said Grim. The City of Carlsbad’s updated General Plan includes strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as mixed-use and higher density development and ways to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips. The Climate Action Plan spells out specific milestones and quantifiable goals to support those strategies. “When you’re talking about reducing greenhouse gases, it’s really about buildings and transportation,” said Grim. “That’s why we’ve focused our plan on improving the way new buildings are built, getting older buildings retrofitted and getting people around town in a way that doesn’t require their hands to be on a steering wheel.” What’s Been Done Already Since the City of Carlsbad participated in a pilot study of its energy use in 2006, it has made a number of changes, including:

• Swapping out street lights and lights in city buildings with energy efficient bulbs
• Updating city laws to promote greater energy efficiency
• Installing solar panels at existing and future city facilities
• Streamlining the solar permitting process
• Replacing gas vehicles with hybrid and alternative fuel models
• Enhancing bike lanes and installed bike racks
• Investing in traffic signal technology to ease traffic and the associated emissions from stop and go traffic and idling
• Installing automatic water meter readers to better monitor use and detect leaks
• Planting drought resistant landscaping and installing artificial turf at city parks
• Doubling the capacity of its recycled water plant and expanded the purple pipe distribution system

What’s Planned Some of the programs that will get started in the coming year include:

• Updates to city ordinances to ensure building and development activity incorporates measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• New electric vehicle charging stations throughout the city, starting with Stagecoach Community Park in the south and the Village in the north
• Working with employers to offer programs that reduce the total number of cars on the road or at least shift the time when cars are on the road to reduce traffic

The city is also participating in meetings with Encinitas and other North County cities that are evaluating something called community choice aggregation. Also called community choice energy, the approach allows local governments and some special districts to pool the electricity needs of their communities and purchase alternative energy supplies directly from providers. The city’s updated General Plan calls for the city to support a regional approach to study the feasibility of establishing community choice aggregation or another program that increases the renewable energy supply and maintains the reliability and sustainability of the electrical grid.