It won’t come as a surprise to anyone who went outside in 2016 that it was the warmest one yet, but NASA and NOAA have confirmed it. That comes after the record-breaking 2015. The warming trend is highly disconcerting albeit unsurprising.
Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to climate change with human activity as the chief cause, there are still holdouts who choose to ignore it. With climate-skeptics stepping into U.S. leadership roles this week, we should continue to use science as a basis for arguments that action must be taken if we are to avert global calamity that affects generations to come. Climate scientists, fearful of criticism that they are alarmist or that their work is flawed, tend to be overly conservative in their assessments of the adverse effects yet to come. Yet even the conservative estimates paint a pretty dire picture. If we stop discussing the science just because of a few individuals who choose to ignore it, though, we run the risk of convincing members of the general public just as they are beginning to feel the effects of climate change.
Action doesn’t need to be solely determined just based on science and the knowledge that the world is heating up, though. We can also look to our values such as being good stewards of the only planet we’ve inherited. Fiscal responsibility for households, businesses and governments can also be the basis for emission-reducing investments such as energy efficiency improvements or alternative transportation. When science is complemented with these values, much can be accomplished even with naysayers in charge.
Constructing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in California will get much easier starting January 1, 2017 thanks to new parking regulations. Also referred to as secondary units or granny units, ADUs are self-contained housing units built to accompany a main dwelling on the same property. ADUs are sometimes built onto or even within the principal dwelling (e.g., a converted garage), but often they are small detached structures consisting of one to two bedrooms plus additional living space. Although property owners build them for personal motivations (e.g., a source of rental income; housing for a relative, caretaker or guests), ADUs are another way to increase urban infill, diversify housing options and increase affordability without significantly changing the character of existing neighborhoods. When added legally, they can also increase property tax revenue.
Despite their benefits, construction of ADUs has long been stymied by local zoning regulations – particularly those related to parking. Two pieces of state legislation passed in 2016 will make building ADUs easier in California. SB 1069 relaxes the parking requirements in certain circumstances. Property owners can now build ADUs without providing any additional parking in the following circumstances:
In cases where these conditions don’t apply, AB 2299 has set a parking maximum of one space per unit or bedroom. It also states that the parking requirement may be satisfied with tandem parking rather than requiring a dedicated space or driveway.
Notwithstanding other zoning requirements that must still be met—including minimum lot size, ADU square footage minimums or maximums, height limits as well as setbacks—the elimination of onerous parking requirements will mean more property owners can receive ministerial approval of their ADU project rather than go through an expensive design-review process.
Reducing the costs unnecessarily burdening ADU projects means that property owners can afford green building measures that may have a higher capital cost but save energy and reduce emissions. For example, even applying for a conditional use permit can easily cost upwards of a thousand dollars. This money can cover the cost difference between standard and ENERGY STAR certified appliances that lowers energy bills. Avoiding the cost of additional parking could pay for solar energy systems.
Looking specifically at the San Francisco Bay Area, reducing the parking requirements will also provide a huge boost to the regional housing supply. UC Berkeley researchers carried out a study of five East Bay neighborhoods within a half-mile of BART train stations. They found roughly 22 percent of parcels in the station areas could accommodate even under zoning requirements with more stringent parking requirements. They estimated that modifying the parking requirements in the station areas, just as what will happen starting in the new year, would make up to 40 percent more parcels eligible for ADUs. In another working paper (“Yes in My Backyard”), they report that the potential market for new ADUs was roughly 31 percent of single-family residential (SFR) properties based on a survey of property owners. The most common reason cited for not yet building an ADU was meeting the parking requirements (MPRs). With the recent legislation overriding local MPRs, a huge barrier has been removed.
Replacing older streetlights with more efficient solid-state lighting—more commonly referred to as light-emitting diodes or LEDs—is a greenhouse gas reduction measure included in nearly every climate action plan. A recent report by the American Medical Association (AMA), however, casts new light (pun intended) on a potentially serious drawback with LED street lighting.
New LED streetlights can significantly reduce energy use and resulting greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) compared to standard high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights they replace. Streetlights with HPS bulbs consumes about 560 kWh annually assuming an average 4,100 hours of operation (PG&E/USDOE 2008). This is the same amount of electricity consumed annually by a standard ENERGY STAR refrigerator so imagine a fridge sitting in place of a street lamp for a year – that’s a lot of energy and a lot of indirect GHGs! However, LED streetlights consume between 50 and 70 percent less electricity (ibid.). When a local jurisdiction replaces hundreds or even thousands of its older HPS fixtures, these energy savings and reduced GHGs can be significant. Given their long lifespan, LEDs also significantly reduce replacement costs and are usually one of the most cost-effective measures recommended in local climate action plans.
The potential downside to LED lighting is beginning to be taken more seriously, though, as illustrated by the AMA report. Recent concerns center around the very intense levels of blue light—greater than 4,000 kelvin (K)—emanating from the LEDs and the potential health effects on people. According to the AMA report, very intense blue-rich LEDs can increase nighttime glare and reduce visibility for drivers. This could have possible adverse effect on safety for all road users. In addition, the wavelength of blue-rich light in white residential LED fixtures is also known to suppress melatonin, which the AMA notes is associated with “reduced sleep times, dissatisfaction with sleep quality, excessive sleepiness, impaired daytime functioning and obesity.” It is estimated that blue-rich LEDs in residential areas have an adverse impact on circadian sleep rhythms at levels five times that of HPS streetlights. This concern is not limited to public lighting. Even companies like Apple have taken steps to minimize the amount of blue light on their devices’ LED screens long before lawsuits or government regulations force any change.
It is important to note that reducing the correlated color intensity of LEDs to levels similar to HPS (~2,200 K) could significantly distort color perception and affect visibility. The AMA’s guidance recommends minimizing blue-rich outdoor lighting by using LEDs that do not exceed 3,000 K, which given the trade-offs of lower intensity levels, should probably be an ideal target for local jurisdictions.
Bottom line: Local jurisdictions should still include emission reduction measures that recommend replacing outdoor lighting with LEDs as soon as feasible, and they should explicitly acknowledge the AMA’s recommended limit as a goal when selecting replacement lights.
Lots of positive news these past few weeks on keeping global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius. Both the US and China have ratified the Paris COP21 climate agreement that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. The US agreed to cut emissions between 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
Not to be outdone, Governor Brown signed SB32 into law last week, which sets the state’s emission reduction target at 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The law extends Assembly Bill 32 that had a goal of lowering emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Besides being the most ambitious climate target in the U.S., it sends a strong signal to the markets about the likely continuation of California’s Cap & Trade program.
This law also likely has implications for local jurisdictions. Lead agencies under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) will continue to have to demonstrate that their projects will not impede California’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goal. Many cities and counties have sought to demonstrate this through a climate action plan or relevant section of their general plan, but almost all of these plans have focused on the year 2020 and its goal. Of the limited number of local jurisdictions that have set goals for target years beyond 2020, few of their plans have proposed specific measures with concrete emission reductions. Local jurisdictions will likely need to revise their plans and add new emission reduction measures to be consistent with the state’s new standards. The good news is that there are many new strategies for reducing emissions that could be added to each plan as well as strengthening existing ones.
None of us are as good as we want to be about wasting food, and if you're like most people, that food waste ends up in your trash. This organic matter usually makes its way to a landfill where it is buried and decomposes anaerobically, which produces methane (CH4). Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas so even a little bit contributes a lot to climate change - especially in the near term.
You can get a traditional backyard composter or even a vermicomposter that uses worms to cut your carbon footprint, but there's a lot of organic material that doesn't break down well with these composting systems. That's where chickens come in! Chickens are excellent biorecyclers. Have breakfast cereal or chips that have gone stale? Chickens will take them. Left over bread and pasta can't go in a composter, but a chicken would be most appreciative. They're pretty heroic in what they can eat!
Besides reducing fuel use from transporting that food waste to a landfill and cutting methane emissions thanks to the diversion, chickens offer other co-benefits. They produce fresh eggs for you to eat - many types of chickens lay at least one egg almost every other day and that's great for your pocket book. Their manure can replace the fossil fuel-derived fertilizers you currently buy from the store and they also eat garden pests like snails and caterpillars so fewer pesticides too. A recent study suggests that chickens may also be a natural repellent to mosquitoes, which is important as our warming climate is increasing the areas where vector-borne diseases like malaria are found. Chickens are also social creatures, which means that even after they peak in egg production, they still offer all the other benefits listed above plus affection. I love my dogs and cats, but they won't eat snails and I can't use their waste to fertilize my plants.
Interested in having backyard chickens, there are lots of resources that can help you. Do try to build you coop out of left-over construction materials to save both money and further cut your carbon footprint.
Planting trees is a great thing for urban and rural environments, but one "renegade" group is thinking big! Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is taking some small cuttings from large, ancient sequoia trees and propagating them into thousands of redwood saplings that will then be planted. The idea is that these large species will be able to store more carbon. Certainly there is something to that idea. Wood that ends up in a landfill doesn't fully decompose and actually counts as a carbon sink in the US EPA's Waste Reduction Model. So the idea of planting more trees to help sequester greenhouse gases is a great idea - particularly if we can keep them alive. Plus many tree species offer significant co-benefits including reducing particulate matter, reducing water runoff, and providing shade in urban areas that reduces energy consumption and the urban heat island effect. So whether one plants a few giant trees, or many smaller species, the sentiment by one observer at the end of the article is right on: at least do something!
To read more about what this team of pioneering arborists is doing, read the SF Chron article here.
Bad news on the climate front (again). Recent NASA analyses showed that the first six months of 2016 were the hottest on record. This is not necessarily surprising given the long-term trend, but it is disconcerting nonetheless. The rising temperatures are, among other things, shrinking the polar ice caps. Unfortunately for all of us on this planet, shrinking ice caps means the acceleration of climate change and its impacts. It is key to accelerate our efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions if we are to slow the effects of climate change.
To read more about this study, follow the link to NASA's article here.
Douglas Kolozsvari here, and very I'm pleased to announce that Solutions 2050 is launching this week. My company will be focusing on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at both local and regional levels. I'm excited at the possibility of working with communities to find context-sensitive solutions that maximize their reductions while also ensuring that they contribute to local livelihood. Local climate action planning, and all its various components, is an excellent way to protect the environment at the global scale all the way down to the neighborhood level. I'm looking forward to working with you!