by Frances L. Edwards
The year 2010 was challenging for Planet Earth. While the East Coast sweltered in record-setting high heat and humidity, the U.S. Congress abandoned its attempt to pass global warming legislation. Meanwhile, Moscow experienced a heat wave that drove residents to vodka parties and swimming to cool off, with fatal results for some. California experienced a year with no summer, causing late harvests and damage to crops that the rest of the nation depends on for food. Finally, during the holidays, the U.S. East Coast experienced a blizzard from Maine to the Carolinas that haulted transportation systems, even the venerable New York City subway.
Observed Impact
A political debate rages over the science of climate change, but local governments have to cope with the realities of heat waves and blizzards, and changes in sea levels and fresh water supply. Observed impact of these events rather than scientific theory may offer a less controversial basis for climate change public policy development.
Impact from changes in sea levels on islands has already been observed, especially along shorelines and barrier reef islands. The impact of climate change is expected to exacerbate the threat from many natural hazards, such as hurricane wind speeds, wildfire frequency, storm surge levels, and the occurrence of flooding. Changes in land use, such as a growing coastal population, have raised the stakes for environmental-related events, while climate change—or climate variability—has altered the frequency and severity of such hazardous events.
When confronting climate change, decisions on public investments must be made using rational criteria. The Transportation Research Board’s “Decision Framework to Address Impacts of Climate Change” offers guidance to local governments on infrastructure investment decisions. Similarly, the California Institute for Local Government provides the “Best Practices Framework,” which lists 10 areas for potential climate change adaptation and mitigation actions (see Figure 1).
The International City Managers Association (ICMA) has crafted the publication Balancing Ethics and Climate Change to guide decisions on local investments. The guidelines emphasize the importance of determining who benefits and who pays—discussing ways to lessen the burden on those least able to pay and avoid mortgaging the next generation’s future.
The guiding principles are distributive justice, intergenerational considerations, precautionary principle, human rights, and “do no harm.” ICMA recommends taking prudent action today that will have no net harm if climate change does not progress, and will have a beneficial effect if climate change does progress.
San Jose’s Green Vision
San Jose, California, the 10th largest U.S. city and the capital of Silicon Valley, began its response to climate change with the 2008 adoption of Mayor Chuck Reed’s Green Vision. This multipronged approach to climate change includes both mitigation and adaptation. A former agricultural center, San Jose has seen its economy switch to the high tech industry, changing orchards to industrial and commercial centers. The result has been an increase in impervious surfaces and a loss of carbon-capture capacity.
LED Street Lights
One Green Vision program is the installation of LED (light-emitting diode) street lights. Conversion of traffic signals to LEDs occurred several years ago, demonstrating energy savings and lessening labor costs for replacements. The LED streetlight conversion now underway will not only cut electricity costs, but also decrease the light signature that affects the observatory at Mount Hamilton, provide white light that enhances the ability to identify colors of cars and perpetrators’ clothing at crime scenes, and save on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With cities confronting shrinking resources, LED streetlight conversion is a community benefit on many levels.
Tree Planting
Another Green Vision program is tree planting on available lots. San Jose has a long-standing partnership with Our City Forest to maintain and improve existing trees. Budget cutbacks several years ago eliminated tree planting and maintenance by the city, however. Through Green Vision, San Jose’s goal is to plant 100,000 trees on median and parking strips, other publicly owned areas, and spots where the city has easements. Tree planting will restore carbon-sequestration capacity that the city lost when orchards were converted to a built environment, and the shade is expected to lessen the need for air conditioning during the warmer months.
ICMA and the California Institute for Local Government note the importance of stakeholder involvement in climate change mitigation programs. AmeriCorps volunteers made a tree inventory to create the basis for the new tree-planting program. San Jose has extended tree-planting program implementation to private property locations and other community members. Individuals can participate in the tree-planting program by registering their privately planted trees online with My City Forest to help track achievement of the 100,000 tree goal.
LEED Certification
Another focus of San Jose’s efforts is Green Building certification for its facilities. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an internationally recognized green building certification and rating system. The new city hall was awarded the LEED-platinum rating. Building retrofits for fire stations and the construction of the new police substation included green building strategies, including energy efficiency and building materials selection.
California’s Initiatives
Electrical generating and transmission are among the sectors most vulnerable to natural hazard events associated with climate change. On the one hand, aging infrastructure elements, such as transformers, are damaged by high heat. Additionally, demand for electricity rises during high heat events, resulting in managed “brown outs,” or unmanaged blackouts, as air conditioning demands stress the aging electrical grid.
In the western United States, hydropower has been a staple electrical generation system, but the early snow melt and lower levels of precipitation in some areas have lessened the number of megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity generation in dry years. One of California’s many climate change-related initiatives is investment in the development of solar power generation at the point of consumption.
In 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-13-2008, which mandated state agency action on climate change to both mitigate climate change (limit the GHG emissions believed to be the cause) and adapt to the climate changes already observed, such as a seven-inch rise in sea level and rising average temperatures.
California Solar Initiative (CSI)
Electricity generation has been identified by the California Air Resources Board as the second largest source of GHG emissions in the state, following transportation. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) was intended to mitigate climate change by lessening the GHG emissions associated with energy production.
One aspect of CSI was the Million Solar Roofs program, begun in 2006 and sponsored by the governor. CSI created an incentive program for individuals and businesses to adopt solar technology, especially installing solar panels on their roofs for point-of-consumption power generation. Creating power at the point of consumption not only eliminates GHG emissions from the power production cycle, but also prevents the needs for new transmission infrastructure investment. Following the ICMA ethics concepts, the solar program was extended through special incentives to low-income single family and multi-family homes.
Solar Power Generation
The goal of CSI is 1940 MWhs of solar power generation at the point of consumption. About two-thirds of this capacity has already been created by residential and commercial generation projects in areas of the state served by investor-owned utilities. Each MWh of electricity generation avoided saves about 0.32 metric tons (MT) of CO2 emissions. In 2008 that represented 1.8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
Participants have included colleges that placed solar roofs on parking spaces and on the roofs of parking garages and state buildings that installed photovoltaic systems. The UPS building in San Francisco operates solely on its solar roof system during daylight hours, its highest period of consumption.
Fuel Cell Technology
Fuel cell technology is one green technology that the state is also encouraging for point-of-consumption energy generation. One firm in Sunnyvale, California, produces Bloom Boxes, which use a solid oxide fuel cell to create power. The fuel can be bio gas or even solar power. Google, eBay, and Yahoo have adopted Bloom box technologies to power their facilities around the clock.
Alternative Transportation Strategies
The California Department of Transportation has been tasked with managing transportation’s impact on climate change. Planners have long said that new roads create their own customers, opening up formerly rural areas to longer commutes that will require more fossil fuels to power vehicles or electric trains for commuters.
Caltrans has been working with the transportation planning organizations in the state to develop strategic growth and congestion management plans to lessen GHG emissions. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development and the Air Resource Board, housing needs assessments will be developed that include strategies for infill development and transit-oriented development that will lessen the demand for single user car commutes. The state also is greening its own fleet by purchasing replacement vehicles that run on alternative fuel or hybrid technology.
Water Conservation
Water policy is also affected by climate change. Western states rely on snow pack and snow melt to create surface water flow in rivers and streams, as well as to recharge aquifers. Drawn down ground water causes the ground level to subside and may lead to sink holes. For example, the San Jose neighborhood of Alviso has sunk to six feet below sea level as a result of pumping underground water for agricultural irrigation in other parts of the Silicon Valley.
Loss of surface water can impact the electrical power supply in areas with hydroelectric power. Early snow melt can lead to spring flooding and summer drought, which requires the construction of reservoirs to ensure water provision.
In California water conservation has been practiced for many years. Now with the realization that water processing and use incurs GHG emissions, projects that reward water use reduction and water recycling are widespread. The state is focusing on agricultural water conservation and smart irrigation systems for public lands.
Denver’s Climate Action Plan
As has been noted, regions and sectors of the United States are developing plans for coping with climate change that may offer guidance for communities that are just beginning to develop mitigation, resilience, and adaptation plans. Denver, Colorado, developed its Climate Action Plan in 2007, which addresses 10 areas for participation by the city government and individual residents, with goals set for 2012. While focused on greenhouse gas reductions, other strategies include
- reuse of fly ash in paving energy conservation and the use of renewable energy sources
- support for multimodal transportation
- waste reduction by commercial and residential generators, including recycling green waste.
Energy efficiency standards are included for commercial buildings, new homes, and remodeled homes, including a preference for renewable energy sources. Existing homeowners are encouraged to plant trees and monitor their energy use. City development plans include enhanced densities, pedestrian and bicycle-friendly areas, and mass transit development. Alternative fueled vehicles and car-share programs also are incorporated, along with encouragement for telecommuting and car pools.
Pew Center Urges Further Adaptation
In 2009 the Pew Center for Global Climate Change issued a working paper that outlines actions that states and local governments are taking to adapt to climate change while they work on mitigation measures. Pew defined mitigation as reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation as coping with the results of climate change.
Although 32 states were identified as working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, only 10 were developing adaptation plans. The Transportation Research Board report on transportation’s impact on climate change also encouraged adaptation to reduce vulnerability.
New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., have published plans and programs on climate change initiatives. San Diego and Dallas have plans focused on energy strategies. San Jose has a Green Vision website that addresses its comprehensive climate change plan, from emission reductions to planting trees and from green composting to LED street lights. Alaska, California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington all have state-level comprehensive climate adaptation approaches.
Pre-Disaster Mitigation
China’s growing population of successful consumers is pushing levels of air pollution—and the generation of greenhouse gasses—above previous levels throughout the most populous areas. In Hot, Flat and Crowded, author Thomas Friedman notes that as new nations develop “American” economies, the rate of demand for fossil fuels will rise and greenhouse gas emissions will increase, but at a rate slower than the American experience because of more fuel-efficient systems.
Australia’s 2010 drought was blamed on global warming. In an effort at adaptation, desalinization plants were constructed to enhance the supply of fresh water for irrigation for domestic use. Unfortunately, the power for the desalinization plants is coal-fired electricity, further contributing to green house gas emissions.
Political support is needed at the state and local government levels for pre-disaster adaptation efforts to cope with the observed changes in natural resources and systems. Some of these mitigation efforts already are underway as part of the federally mandated community mitigation plans developed under Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.
Existing strategies may include alternative flood protection approaches, such as avoidance, elevation, and flood-proofing, as well as structural protection against flood events and flood protection of low lying areas. Protection of fresh water sources from salt water incursion and development of new materials for roadways that are less prone to heat damage may prevent some future climate change impacts.
Construction methods that recognize the benefits of insulation, building orientation, and location for mitigating the demands for heating and cooling are also useful, including strategies used before air conditioning like attic fans and location-specific building orientation. For example, in the hot climate of California, the original settlers used a northeast-southwest building orientation for whole communities—notably Los Angeles—to mitigate interior heat build-up. In New York, which experiences colder temperatures, architects advocate locating the most-used living areas on the south side of a home to benefit from solar warming.
Natural Cycle or Carbon: The Challenge Is the Same
Communities must evaluate the threat posed by climate change and determine the level of adaptation that is possible and cost-effective. Community stakeholders developing a climate adaptation plan need to include residents, emergency responders, local infrastructure agencies, scientists, and other levels of government. Adaptation to climate change affects public health, local government, transportation, and many other aspects of the public infrastructure.
While debating the cause of climate change can be divisive and politically volatile, a review of observed climate-related events within the community and a strategy for lessening future loss of life and infrastructure provide a firm basis for adaptation planning, funding, and implementation. The observed effects of climate change must be dealt with, regardless of their cause, whether part of a natural cycle or due to greenhouse gas emissions.
Frances L. Edwards, PhD, is the deputy director for National Transportation Security Center of Excellence at the Mineta Transportation Institute, San Jose State University in California, and director of the master of public administration program. Contact her at kcthm@yahoo.com.