Here's another idea for close to zero emission transportation; HYDROGEN. There is a bit of controversy over this solution, as, today, hydrogen is produced using some amount of natural gas. I will address that point in a later post. Today, I simply want to alert people to an opportunity that is considered to be net zero emission by the state, and that might be relatively affordable. 

Today, I will simply talk about the affordability issue. 

There may have been others, but for sure, Toyota made a hydrogen car in 2017. Many of these were leased, and have now been returned. Toyota is now selling Certified used Mirai cars. I went to San Francisco and looked at them, and they are priced in the $10-12k range, which is not bad. But, even better, (a) they give you $15,000 card for prepaid hydrogen fuel, and (b) you can get an HOV sticker for them. So, they are basically paying you to take the cars. Also, they are offering 0% interest, so you can pay for it over time, at no interest. Its a pretty sweet deal - IF you can tolerate the hydrogen difficulties. 

(I will mention the big one, since I want to be as responsible and transparent as possible - there is only ONE hydrogen fueling station in all of Marin; the Valero in Mill Valley; but, there are 49-ish around the state, and the state is investing a ton of money to get the number up to at least 200 by 2025. More on hydrogen next time). 

There are also, for those who can afford them, new hydrogen cars, now. Toyota has a new one, as does Honda. Hyuandai has an SUV. I think you can only lease the Honda and Hyuandai, You can either buy the Toyota or lease it. When you buy or lease a new hydrogen car, you get (a) $8,000 Federal Tax Credit; (b) $4,500 California rebate; and (c) HOV sticker. If you get it from Toyota, you also get the $15,000 prepaid fuel, and three years of free service. Sometimes the dealers offer incentives on top of that. 

Full disclosure - I just bought one of these things, and I hoping that others will too, so we can convince somebody to put a hydrogen station in Fairfax. That will be great; Novato gets Costco, we can get hydrogen (and EV charging). 

One last thing about this. The original Mirai was planned to have a feature that allowed you to run your fuel cell car and plug it into your house to power it. They ultimately did not do that, but it can be done. Believe me, as the owner of one of these things now, I have a vested interest in figuring it out!

Whatever you do, Walk, Bike, ride the bus (after vaccination), telecommute instead of going to the office, and, when you are able to buy your next car; make it EV or Hydrogen; they are cheaper than gas cars and they will make you feel better!

• 4/7, 7:30pm - Health Issues Related to Climate Change, Making the Switch to Electric, and more, hosted by the 350 Palo Alto team’s “Switch to Electric” Community Engagement Campaign. Zoom Meeting, Meeting ID: 899 4008 6223, Passcode: 643410

• 4/8, 10am - Electric kitchens have arrived! Join Rachelle Boucher of Kitchens To Life, hosted by the CA Building Decarbonization Coalition. Register here: https://bit.ly/31iFelc

 

• 4/19 – Air District Stationary Source & Climate Protection Committee, where the appliance standards will get discussed with detailed cost analysis - a make or break moment for the rules to move forward or die over cost & equity concerns.

 

• 4/28 - Electrification of Buildings: Climate, Health, Justice. Panel sponsored by SF Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibilty, https://sfbaypsr.org/take-action/events/…

 

• VERGE Electrify, May 25-26, Register here

 

• Green Home Tour (East Bay), June 6 & 13 — Register here 

 
News: 

• Going all-electric may seem daunting. Here's how to start the process. (Green Building News)
• How your gas stove sparked a battle over climate change

 
Resources:

1. Cost memo on Electrification for Existing Homes, drafted in support of the appliance standards to phase out gas heaters and water heaters under consideration at the Air District.

​AND, most of all, 

Review the Fairfax CAP and JOIN US!

Last time, I wrote about ways to afford new, renewable fuel vehicles. 

Here is an opportunity to virtually kick the tires of some of these, and learn more about what's possible. 

Join the DriveClean Earth Day Drive-Clean-a-thon. Its April 24, and it will help you learn more. 

Make your next car zero emissions. We can do this. 

In the comments on the CAP, several folks have pointed out difficulties with being able to afford an electric car, including, of course charging stations, etc. 

Obviously, our transportation system is evolving quickly, especially here, in California. I believe that economics already favor emissions-free vehicles, and that this advantage will only increase in years to come; in some ways, I think technology and markets will get help to get us where we need to go in ways that will be less painful than we fear. 

Just a couple of examples. 

Business Week magazine last week had an article talking about this, and the fact that there are at least 5 EV models now available in the US that are already the same first cost, and lower life cycle cost compared to gas-fired cars. This trend will continue and accelerate. (HERE). 

Obviously, ou Governor has mandated that by 2035, it will not be possible to buy a gas-fired car in California. (HERE). 

One set of comments on the CAP says we should ask the Town to walk the talk; that is, we should be looking at electrifying our fleet, and showing the community that this is feasible. We are not the only town to be talking about this; even in the Midwest, towns are electrifying their fleets. (HERE). 

Old-line carmakers are becoming more profitable and seeing their stock prices tick upwards as they shift towards electrification. (HERE); and (HERE). 

Governments continue to incentivize people to buy these emission-less vehicles by making them even less expensive. (HERE). 

Some manufacturers are practically giving away new hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars (I will talk more about this next time). (HERE). 

And, the Federal government is now talking about incentives for e-bikes, an entirely new way to think about transportation. (HERE). And, of course, bicycling not only saves the planet; it not only saves money; it also saves lives. (HERE). 

So, let's not be afraid of what we might fear the costs of electric vehicles are today. Lets vow that we will be the Town that changes America. Let's be the Town that starts by walking and cycling and using the bus and ferry as much as we can. Let's be the Town that vows to never buy another gas car again, because they are going to become dinosaurs. Let's lean into the trends, take advantage of the ever evolving incentives, and lets overcome this challenge of perception. Let's not let fear stand in our way. We can do this. 

Apologies to all of you! 

I am kicking myself for missing this, but yesterday was World Water Day! And, of course, how appropriate for where we, in this community, currently are. The United Nations is providing us with resources HERE. 

We must come together as a community to protect this most precious of resources. The best science tells us that this is NOT an unusual situation, but that this is our new normal. HERE. 

It's an interesting thing, though. This drought is increasing the risk of wildfire, and our response to this is really to protect ourselves, and not to protect the climate. 

But, reducing our water consumption actually serves both needs. One of the largest consumers of energy - and its carbon emissions - is treating, moving, and disposing of water from buildings. 

I had a conversation with a friend a few days ago. This person is a landscape architect; someone who makes her living helping people to install new gardens - with the attendant irrigation system. This person is arguing that we should think differently, and we should be thinking about the most water efficient ways to do everything in this new, dryer era. And, maybe its better to buy our vegetables from the farmers market, than to dump water on our backyards to grow our own produce. 

I am not arguing that we should not be gardening; in truth, I don't know if home gardening or local gardening is more water intensive. 

What I do know is that we need to be thinking about these questions, and every one us needs to be doing our part to preserve this precious resource - and, in so doing, the energy that would have gone into it, and the money that can then remain in our pockets. 

A comment on the Climate Action Plan has come in, asking about Rainwater Capture. (Thank you for the feedback!!) 

The question was whether it was legal to do Rainwater Capture Systems in Fairfax. 

To be honest, I was not certain about this, so I reached out to our local building department. They were able to confirm that this kind of installation is acceptable. 

Of course, thinking about installing a Rainwater Capture System now is a bit of wishful thinking for a few months, but it would be worth doing for next year. 

Maybe more intriguing is the idea of graywater systems in general. I should note that I am an electrical engineer, not an expert in water systems. I am considering putting in a graywater system to catch shower water and use it for irrigation. 

My research to date is that you can do a graywater system using clothes washer rinse water without any permits at all. You can also put in a "Simple" graywater system, which is sized for one- or two-person home. This requires a permit for construction, and it requires you to notify the County Health Department.  

You can find the requirements summarized HERE. 

So, thank you for the question, thank you for caring. 

Save water, go Gray, give us comments on the CAP, go Deep Green and join us!

Building Decarbonization Coalition Presents:

 Electric Kitchens Have Arrived! Myth Busting & Truth Telling with Two Electrifying Chefs

Featuring Chef Rachelle Boucher of Kitchens to Life and
Chef Dashiell Kiefreider

You Won't Want to Miss This: Register now!

April 8, 2021 at 10am PST
 
All webinar information, including registration links, can be found on our website.

Heat Pumps 101: How They Work & How They Can Be Used


Title: Heat Pumps 101: How They Work & How They Can Be Used
When: Wednesday March 31st, 3 – 430pm
Register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2871121042402684176
Blurb: This webinar will cover topics related to how heat pumps operate, their inner workings, and how these systems can be used in home and commercial settings.
This is a great opportunity to learn more about a new technology, and to have a chance to ask experts any questions you may have.
We will have two presentations, one from Dana Fischer on how heat pumps work, and one from Mark Toussaint about the applications of these devices, and how Eversource is pushing this technology.
Presenters: 
–Mark Toussaint, CEM Senior Energy Efficiency Consultant – Eversource Energy
–Dana Fischer, Area Manager – Maine & New Hampshire Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US LLC
This webinar will be recorded and posted on:
https://www.nhenergy.org/webinars.html

First of all, thank you to everyone who is taking the time to comment on the draft Climate Action Plan we have submitted to the Town Council. 

It is important to start with the recognition that this is only a first draft! We are actively seeking the views of the Town, to help make this better. 

]Having said that, I do want to tackle some of the comments that are coming through. Many are just supportive. Many ask us to do more. Many point out difficulties we will have. These are the ones I want to address, starting with one of the toughest issues. 

Several people have noted the difficulty and expense of switching to electric vehicles. Some people have noted that retired people, in particular, may struggle to replace cars with newer, electric ones. How can we be age friendly while at the same time imposing new costs on these friends and neighbors?

These are valid concerns, of course. But, there are promising signs. It's clear that the costs of electric cars are coming down. And statistics are clear that electric cars are already, on a life cycle basis, considerably less expensive than comparable gasoline cars. And, the governments continue to offer incentives to move in this direction. Technology and policy will help us. 

The truth is, for us to get to carbon neutral by 2030, we need to either replace all of our gasoline cars with electric (or fuel cell) cars, or else we need to offset these emissions in some other way. And, NOT doing what is needed to tackle climate change will cost us a lot more down the road than tackling it a little bit at a time starting now.

At this point, we cannot know the best way to get there. For sure, we want to take costs into account. We never want to hurt the people here, but only to figure out ways to help. We are working on all kinds of ways to deal with this problem, including improving walkability and bicycle access. Congress is considering subsidizing e-bikes. The new stimulus bill includes massive supports for public transportation systems including those in the Bay Area, and we intend to work with the local public transit agencies to improve access to our people. Both the state and the Federal government are offering generous incentives to encourage purchase of electric and fuel cell cars, and we have thought about ways we can similarly accelerate this trend. (By the way, Toyota is essentially giving away its 2017 fuel cell cars right now, if you are interested). And our governor has outlawed new gasoline cars in a very few years. 

The truth is, this transportation issue is probably the biggest challenge we have as a community. At this point, it is not 100% clear how we will get there, and how we will help the people who will struggle to afford new cars. What I do know is that Technology is on our side. Federal, state, and even local policies will try to build on one another to help everyone. The CAC for sure will be looking for every possible resource to help the people of this town. 

Let's not give up because it is hard. Let's come together and figure out how. 

Last week, we issued the first draft of a Climate Action Plan for the Town of Fairfax. It is up on our website now, together with a mechanism to make comments. This report is the result of hours of volunteer time, trying to respond to the Town Council goal for getting the Town of Fairfax to Zero emissions by 2030. Over the last 18 months we have had a survey of all Town Residents, and a number of public Town Hall meetings to try to provide opportunities for all people of this Town to have their voices heard. Now, we are taking comments on the draft plan. 

We are now starting to get comments, for which we are very grateful. I am going to try to post some of them up on this blog, together with some thoughts about them. 

The first comment I want to address was a suggestion that we include some kind of response to the issue of electricity infrastructure. That is, we all know that, to eliminate our emissions, we are going to need to eliminate our combustion of natural gas. That is going to make us more dependent on the electrical grid, and that grid is currently subject to public safety events due to wildfire threats. 

I think this is a good idea. It is true that increasing electrical reliability is going to be important to the future. It is also true that the Town of Fairfax, by ourselves, has little ability to influence the utility companies. However, one thing we are working on is reaching out to the other Towns in Marin, and to Marin County, to align our efforts to try to have a bigger impact on topics like this. So, we will see about adding this element to the CAP and to our thinking. THANK YOU for this suggestion. 

I also want to reiterate that one thing we can d more directly in our Town is to build our own damn resilience solutions (to paraphrase Jerry Brown on the topic of Climate Satellites). We want to focus on this too. One thing I wrote about a couple of weeks ago was the development of a solar co-op. This is going to be a mechanism to allow us to start pooling our assets to start to build more local generation capacity to improve the equitable distribution of these local generation assets. 

So, do three things:

1. Join the Climate Action Committee!
2. Keep sending us your thinking on how to make the Climate Action Plan better. 
3. Sign up for the Fairfax Solar Coop (form below). 

Together, we can get this done.