Citizens' Advisory Committee
Power Subcommittee

MINUTES

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
1155 Market Street, 4th Floor Conference Room
San Francisco, CA

Members
Kimia Mizany – Chair
Nick Carlin
Aaron Israel
Steve Lawrence
Winchell Hayward

Members present: Kimia Mizany (Chair), Nick Carlin, Steve Lawrence, Aaron Israel, Winchell Hayward

Members not present:

Staff: Jim Marks

Members of the Public: none

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Roll Call
 
1. Call to Order
Kimia Mizany, Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:45 pm.
 
2. Approval of Minutes
Minutes of meeting of February 12, 2008 was adopted unanimously without revision.

3. Announcements
Next regularly scheduled meeting will be April 1. The subcommittee will hear from John O’Donnell of Ausra, INC., a company which develops utility-scale solar thermal power.

4. Public Comment
No public comment.

5. Presentations and Discussion:

Melissa Capria who is the Climate Action Coordinator of the San Francisco
Department of the Environment and Danielle Dowers, Utilities Specialist with the San
Francisco Public Utilities Commission gave an update on the San Francisco Climate
Action Plan.

Danielle clarified a question from one of the committee members about the SFPUC Long-Term Energy Plan. The committee might consider a presentation on the Long-term
Energy Plan in a future meeting.

Ms. Capria began by saying that the current San Francisco Greenhouse Gas
Inventory work was divided into two main categories: 1) Municipal inventory (including
buildings and fleet), and 2) Communitywide Inventory (including Energy,
Transportation and Waste).

On Municipal emissions, she explained different emission sources in
2005: forty-eight percent was from natural gas, twenty-eight percent from diesel, eleven
percent from electricity, nine percent from gasoline, three percent from steam and less
than point five percent from CNG. Natural gas contained the bulk amount of the emissions.  It is used mainly by municipal buildings. Danielle added that municipal buildings, such as hospitals, airport and schools, use a lot of boilers.

In 2005, San Francisco became the first US city to certify its municipal emissions. The study was funded by the SFPUC.  San Francisco is now in the process of having its 2006 emissions number certified.

CO2 emissions dropped from 214,666 to 201,897, about 13,000
 metric tons of CO2, from 2005 to 2006. It’s about 6% below 2005 and a significant
drop.  The reduction is equal to the elimination of burning 30,000 barrels of oil.  In
comparison to emissions from other Bay Area cities: 22,241 for Palo Alto; 60,980
for Sacramento; EBUMD (East Bay Mud), 83,222; San Francisco, 214,666; UC Berkeley, 230,961, and Chevron’s US refinery operations, 13,023,456.

Vehicle-fleet-related CO2 emissions for San Francisco Muni were down 1,328, from
50,909 in 2005 to 49,581 in 2006; SFPUC fleet emissions were down 221 from 4,142 in 2005 to 3,921 in 2006. However, city Central Shops emissions were up 707 from 19,395 in 2005 to 20,102 in 2006.

For Building-related CO2 emissions, steam reached a significant reduction of
1,792, from 7,042 in 2005 to 5,250 in 2006. So far, it’s not clear what caused the
reduction. San Francisco’s natural gas emissions increased by 2,312 from 86,223
in 2005 to 88,535 in 2006, with a small reduction of 262 for San Francisco Unified School District, from 16,438 in 2005 to 16,176 in 2006. Hospitals are one of the bigger users of natural gas. SFPUC is working with the airport on a natural gas reduction plan.

There was a discussion on why not use electricity for heating instead of buying expensive
natural gas such as Hetch power vs. natural gas. 

City-Building and Muni CO2 emissions from electricity were down by 13,072 although the MWh were up by 12,530. Emission factor changed from 76.28 in 2005 to 32.9 in 2006.  Something to consider is that the efficiency in Hetchy powered facilities frees up clean energy that can replace grid power elsewhere.

Ms. Capria emphasized that city legislation requires all city departments to
create a climate action plan.

In comparing the 1990 and 2006 community natural gas usage and CO2 emissions,
the residential and industrial sectors decreased, while the commercial increased.
The model used here is also an EPA model. It accounts for emissions reductions from recycling and waste.

For transportation emissions, Ms. Capria said, the current method of generating the SF
Vehicle and inter-regional vehicle emissions isn’t very straightforward. 

The other speaker, Wade Crowfoot, was stuck in Berkeley and couldn’t attend the meeting.

6. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 PM.