Mtn. View Council Passes Strong All-Electric Building Code

Tonight (Nov. 12, 2019) the 7 members of the Mountain View City Council voted unanimously in favor of an all-electric building code that will go into effect in January. The code applies only to NEWLY CONSTRUCTED buildings, not to remodels. Natural gas will no longer be allowed in new residences. Commercial and industrial buildings are also required to be all-electric, but exceptions will be made in certain circumstances where natural gas can be clearly justified.

The code also establishes strong requirements for EV charging infrastructure in all types of NEWLY CONSTRUCTED buildings. Again, the code imposes no requirements on existing buildings.

Mountain View has once again shown its leadership in taking meaningful steps to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. Well done, Council members! And thank you to sustainability advocates IdaRose Sylvester, Mike Balma, Bruce Naegel, Bruce Karney, Dashiell Leeds, Don Bray and Mary Dateo, all of whom attended the meeting.

Supervisors Commend Youth Climate Strike Organizers

Earlier in October the County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation:

“BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara does hereby recognize and commend the Silicon Valley Youth Climate Strike Organizers for bringing together thousands of climate protesters through a march from Diridon Station to San José City Hall and a rally at the San José City Hall steps to signify a powerful new wave of the climate justice movement.”

Two of the Climate Strike Organizers are Mountain View residents: Jamie Minden and Lexie Crilley. Jamie attends St. Francis High School and Lexie attends Los Altos High School. Carbon Free Mountain View congratulates these two young climate champions.

Photo below inside the Board Chamber (Left to Right): Supervisor Dave Cortese, Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Helen Deng, Sophie Wang, Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, Lexie Crilley (holding the proclamation), Abhimanyu Jayaraman, Jennifer Zhao, Supervisor Joe Simitian, Sanat Singhal, Supervisor Mike Wasserman

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Photo below outside the Board Chamber (Left to Right): Supervisor Dave Cortese, Jennifer Zhao, Sanat Singhal, Abhimanyu Jayaraman, Lexie Crilley, Sophie Wang, Helen Deng, Jamie Minden (holding the proclamation), Sindhu Vajrala, Navya Pariti, Sian Bareket, Roisin McElarney

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Local Climate Activism Leads to Major Investments in Sustainability

From Mountain View Sustainability Manager Steve Attinger:

Hello Task Force,

In case you haven’t heard the news, last night [Oct. 22, 2019] was THE most significant night in the 12 years I’ve been steering MV’s sustainability ship. The City Council did two amazing things:

  1. They approved a building/EV/PV “Reach Code” more stringent than staff recommendations that mandates that ALL new construction, starting 1/1/20, will have to be all-electric (with a few exceptions), AND include a significant number of EV spaces or installed EV chargers, AND include solar PV. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe this makes Mountain View one of the first 3 or 4 cities in the state to pass such progressive building requirements. The SVCE press release is available here.

  2. They adopted Sustainability Action Plan 4 (SAP-4), comprised of 81 new actions, 10 new staff positions, and a budget of $10.6M. SAP-4 was directly a result of your 2018 recommendations, so I’m thrilled to let you know that all your efforts have culminated in a very aggressive plan for the next 3 years. The 10/22 Agenda, which includes the staff report as Item 7.1, is here.

For those of you who showed up last night to provide support, again, thank you so much!

To everyone receiving this email, I can’t thank you enough for your dedication to a sustainable future, and we look forward to continuing to engage with you as we begin to execute the 81 actions. (Oy vey!)

I’m sincerely humbled by your commitment, and last night’s 2 major wins are directly attributable to YOU!

The Mountain View Sustainability Team