Utilities Senior Resource Planner Karl Knapp.
The City had a stated goal of buying 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2008; that figure has been surpassed. Knapp expects to meet — as early as next year — the 20 percent goal the City Council wants by 2015.
In comparison to conventional energy sources, wind power costs a bit more, but with rising prices for fossil-based fuels such as natural gas, and as more clients buy in to wind power and more facilities come on line, the price is coming close to at par with natural gas, according to Knapp.
In addition to wind energy, the city has also explored solar — although power from large-scale solar farms costs three times as much as natural gas, landfill gas and wind, and power from photovoltaic panels costs nearly eight times as much.
Still, solar power hasn't been ruled out completely. Knapp hopes to see solar panels installed at the Municipal Service Center on Embarcadero Road, Cubberley Community Center and the Baylands Interpretive Center. And there are is a small solar site at Escondido Elementary School.
Carbon-dioxide reduction won't come from renewable energy alone, Knapp said. A large portion of carbon-dioxide savings — and financial benefit — comes from improving efficiency.
The City has converted traffic signals to LEDs, reducing wattage by 80 percent and saving $120,000 annually. It retrofit lighting systems in 60 city buildings. An energy management system that manipulates temperatures in the buildings has reduced energy demand by 10 to 15 percent during peak times annually. Adding software to put computers to sleep after 10 minutes of non-use, the City saves enough energy to power 35 Palo Alto homes for one year.
Eighty percent of Palo Alto's energy use comes from business and industry, and Silicon Valley firms are big users of electricity, according to Knapp. The city is working with businesses to upgrade to energy-efficient equipment and offering them incentives to adopt environmentally friendly practices.
So far, through efficiency, the City itself has reduced its energy load by nearly 4 percent since 1999. Combined savings from reduced gas and electricity consumption saves more than 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to an April 17 report to the council.
Meanwhile, another city initiative, the Zero Waste program, could also significantly reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in the city. Its task force is currently developing an operational plan to divert up to 90 percent of the city's waste from landfills. Seattle credits its aggressive recycling program with being one of the biggest factors in its dramatic greenhouse-gas reductions, since landfill decomposition creates gases.
Transportation remains the biggest culprit in greenhouse-gas emissions, accounting for an estimated 6 million pounds of carbon dioxide from Palo Alto City facilities and an estimated 500 million pounds citywide, according to Knapp's calculations. Statewide, transportation accounts for 41.2 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the California Energy Commission.
Getting people out of their cars is one solution, and closely related to that would be creating a blueprint for making home and work spaces easily accessible without driving.
Drekmeier believes new models for housing and land-use planning, such as the town-square model in many European cities, would encourage people to drive less. Europeans use one-quarter to one-half as much gas as Americans. Their cities are designed to function so that people can get around by using highly efficient public transportation, or shop in close proximity to their homes, he said.
Higher-density housing, such as the 800 High St. development, can build more energy efficiency into housing, according to Knapp. Drekmeier agrees.
"A lot of people say the best thing we can do through land use is to grow up versus out," he said. One working model is at Stanford University, where priority in housing is given to people who work there. At Stanford West, people who work at the hospital can bike to work.
High housing prices are 