City leaders aim to shrink Santa Fe's carbon footprint

Julie Ann Grimm | The New Mexican

4/19/2008 -

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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http://assets.mediaspanonline.com/prod/710076/7035109.jpg 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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The City Council already approved one building regulation that is supposed to make both builders and consumers more conscious about energy. Since January, it has required all new homes to post HERS (Home Energy Rating System) energy scores, a standard measure of energy efficiency based on construction materials such as insulation and windows.

Other efforts include a regional recycling center that serves Santa Fe County, Los Alamos and Española. The frequency of residential curbside service in Santa Fe returned to weekly this year and is aimed at diverting more trash from the landfill, but data so far is inconclusive. Overall, the city's 2007 recycling rate of 10 percent is about equal to the state rate but falls well behind the national average of 32 percent.

For more information about the status of city efforts or to read the entire Sustainable Santa Fe Plan.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.