One measure of a city's environmental friendliness is its carbon
footprint. But unlike Big Foot's outline in the mud, Santa Fe's imprint
on the atmosphere is hard to define.
Katherine Mortimer, city long-range planner, is working on a
project comparing the city's carbon footprint in 1990 and today. While
there is no question that more greenhouse gases are being pumped out
than 18 years ago, it's her hope that in another four years data will
show that Santa Fe is cleaning up its act.
As one of its efforts to be a more sustainable city, Santa Fe
leaders have pledged to abide by several formal commitments, including
the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which calls
for cities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990
levels by 2012.
Using a software database tool, Mortimer is gathering information
on the amount of electricity and fuels used in the entire city over the
years. It's a tricky task because records — such as how much pollution
came from cars or from construction equipment — don't exist.
"We are trying to come up with a good way of estimating the
community's fuel use, and that has been a sticking point," she said.
The City Council has also asked staff and community members to
draft a Sustainable Santa Fe Plan establishing citywide standards on a
myriad topics such as transportation, solid-waste reduction, food
systems, green building and water conservation.
While accomplishing those goals is going to take a massive
community effort, the city also is making its own house more energy
efficient.
The new Southside Branch Library emphasized natural lighting,
operable windows, automatic dimmers and water harvesting. The
convention and civic center now under construction will have a silver
rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, or LEED, because of the types of materials and
engineering it uses.
The city's new energy specialist, Nick Schiavo, is working with a
contractor to conduct energy audits of existing city buildings and has
already convinced the city manager to implement new personnel
guidelines that include a mandate to power down computers at the end of
the day and to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles.
"I won't do anything that is not going to have an immediate effect or a quick payback," he said.
For example, this year, the city replaced its 4,000 traffic signal
bulbs with light-emitting-diode versions. The LEDs will pay for
themselves in about a year and a half. It also purchased pool covers
for Genoveva Chavez Community Center that are expected to yield energy
savings of about $35,000 per year.
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But land-use code changes meant to encourage infill and more
efficient use of infrastructure have benefited the second-home industry
more than the affordable-housing market.
The draft of the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan calls for more attention
to compact urban forms, for the city to "keep neighborhoods livable and
protect rural areas from sprawl" as well as implementing a "smart
growth" strategy that includes a water plan through 2040.
The kind of buildings erected here is likely to change sooner than
that with the proposed adoption of the city's "Green Building Code,"
which is due for City Council review this summer.
Builder Kim Shannahan, the president of the city's home-builders
association, describes learning about better industry practices as an
epiphany. "I was like Saul on the road to Damascus," he said, noting
that now he has an agenda to foment more sustainable construction. "The
home builders are not the enemy. We are part of the solution."
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