San Francisco City Hall

The California Sustainability Alliance continually develops resources to aid local governments in planning and implementing sustainability initiatives.  Just last week, we released our new Local Government Resources Toolkit, posted the workbook and best practices developed as part of the California Local Energy Efficiency Program (CALeep), and added a new section to our Emerald California toolkit featuring the city of Riverside’s innovative sustainability programs.

The Local Government Resources Toolkit helps cities and counties identify and locate tools to help their communities meet sustainability goals. These tools consist of informational reports and guides, calculators, and funding opportunities available from the state and federal government, utilities, and other organizations. The tools cover topics such as community development, housing, transportation, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and water efficiency and sustainability.

The Toolkit is designed for use by local government staff who are looking for a simple portal that identifies select useful sustainability resources. The toolkit is meant to serve as a first stop for such resources when local governments are looking for assistance in achieving their sustainability goals.  Please check it out and let us know what you think!

The Alliance also released new information about the Emerald California Pilot Program. Through the Emerald California program, the California Sustainability Alliance has worked collaboratively with the city of Riverside and the California Department of Conservation to identify opportunities to “stretch” the City’s existing sustainability goals in eight high priority policy areas. Our latest addition to the Emerald California toolkit documents the City of Riverside’s efforts to reach these stretch goals and serves as an example of best practices for other communities in California.

Take a look at Riverside’s cutting edge sustainability initiatives, which include:

• A sustainable action plan, which provides a framework for implementing Riverside’s policy vision.
• Innovative sustainability programs that target energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, and green economic development.
• Innovative technologies such as a “grease to gas” program to generate electricity and a planned recycled water facility to reduce dependency on groundwater and imported water.
• Unique and sophisticated marketing and communications strategy including websites dedicated to energy and water sustainability as well as a weekly “Green Power” radio show.

Our final release from these past few weeks documents the California Local Energy Efficiency Program (CALeep), which was designed to help local governments plan and implement highly effective energy efficiency initiatives within their communities.  Six pilot projects were conducted throughout the Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison service areas, assisting local governments in selecting and implementing energy efficiency programs and policies.  These pilot projects are incorporated into the CALeep Workbook, a tool that can be used by local officials and community activists to initiate, plan, organize, implement, and assess energy efficiency activities at the local and regional level, to support greenhouse gas reduction, job creation, water conservation, and green building.

We hope these tools will help those of you in local government to advance sustainability within your jurisdictions as you work to lead by example, positively influence your communities, and leverage local authority.  Use this space to tell us how your community is doing, and what types of resources and programs are working best for you.