The City of Santa Clarita was recently recognized for its leadership and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and promote sustainability by The Institute for Local Government and the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative as part of the Beacon Award Program. The City of Santa Clarita is one of 30 California cities and counties participating in the Beacon Award: Local Leadership toward Solving Climate Change program, which recognized organizations that promote sustainability and adopt programs and policies to address climate change.

Santa Clarita was recognized for completing at least three sustainability activities in each of the Institute’s 10 Sustainability and Climate Action Best Practice Areas, and reducing electricity use in agency facilities by 26 percent through energy efficiency retrofits.  Examples of accomplishments for which Santa Clarita was honored include:

– Installation of 756 energy-efficient, induction lights at selected city locations including 11 bridges, 158 parking lots, and 17 parks, resulting in an estimated annual savings of 284,000 kWh and approximately $32,100.

– Adopted the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy that, in part, requires all municipal construction projects for new buildings achieve a LEED Silver certification or equivalent.

– Completed the state-of-the art Transit Maintenance Facility, which includes onsite solar generation that has resulted in a 97 percent savings in power needs. Other design features incorporated into this state-of-the art facility include straw bale insulation on exterior walls, under-floor heating and cooling systems, recycled building materials, water efficient landscaping, day lighting features, facility shading devices, high efficiency lighting fixtures with motion sensors, daylight dimming controls, and compressed natural gas fuel technology.

– Implemented programs for household hazardous waste and e-waste collection, tire recycling, sharps disposal, clothing reuse, bulky item pickup, composting workshops and manure recycling.

– Completed six roadway resurfacing projects using recycling tires, resulting in the diversion of approximately 960,000 tires. Five city parks use recycled tire rubber as playground surface material, diverting more than 5,000 tires from the waste stream.

– Thirty-seven of the City’s 91 mass transit vehicles are powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and fueled at an onsite CNG fueling station that is open to the public. The fueling station annually dispenses approximately 356,000 therms, which is equivalent to 285,000 gallons of gasoline.

– Operates a fleet of alternative fuel vehicles that are primarily powered by CNG along with one traditional hybrid. The CNG vehicles are fueled by a pumping stating that annually dispenses approximately 9,400 therms, which is equivalent to 7,800 gallons of gasoline.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to positively affect change in our community and throughout our state with regard to environmental sustainability and reducing of our footprint on the planet,” said Mayor Marsha McLean. “This is only the beginning for Santa Clarita, as we look forward to achieving Platinum Beacon Award status in the years to come.”

Santa Clarita is well on its way to achieving accomplishments in all 10 areas and achieving a higher recognition status. For additional information about the City of Santa Clarita’s green initiatives, including work towards a Platinum Beacon Award, please visit GreenSantaClarita.com or contact David Peterson, assistant planner II at (661) 284-1406 or dpeterson@santa-clarita.com.

Additional information about Santa Clarita’s accomplishments is available at ca-ilg.org/BeaconAward/SantaClarita. Information about the Beacon Award program is available at ca-ilg.org/BeaconAward.

The Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative is a new alliance to help cities and counties reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. The collaborative is made up of California non-profit organizations, including the Institute for Local Government and California’s four Investor Owned Utilities.