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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-08-22 Climate Action and Sustainability Committee Summary MinutesCLIMATE ACTION & SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 9 Regular Meeting August 22, 2025 The Climate Action & Sustainability Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Community Meeting Room and by virtual teleconference at 1:30 p.m. Present In-Person: Veenker (Chair), Burt Present Remotely: None Absent: Lu Call to Order Vice Mayor Veenker called the meeting to order. The clerk called roll. Vice Mayor Veenker declared there was a quorum. Public Comments There were no public comments. Standing Verbal Reports A. Staff Comments Director, Public Works Department, Brad Eggleston provided an update on the YCAB, which will consist of 11 high school students from 4 schools. The new Sustainability and Climate Action Communications and Engagement Report will report on ongoing and upcoming engagements. In the second quarter of 2025, there had been a giveaway campaign for a heat pump water heater, and the winner will be announced soon. Postcards were mailed to all single-family homes in Palo Alto regarding the heat pump water heater programs, which has information on the Emergency Replacement Program. Marketing related to the California Tech Program for heat pump water heaters and heat pump HVAC systems will continue until the funds are exhausted, which will likely happen in September. Lawn signs promoting electrification are available as well as an on-line sign-up sheets. A new contract will be launched soon to enhance communication and engagement efforts. The first efforts will audit existing work, and an annual strategy will be created. A mailer with a sticker for single-family homeowners to place on their gas water heaters is being finalized. It will include emergency safety tips, resources, and information SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 related to switching to a heat pump water heater. New social media for home electrification will start this week, which will share programs, resources, and educational information about the benefits of home electrification. As part of the Heat Pump Water Heater Program, it is expected that a refer-a- neighbor campaign will launch this quarter. Staff is starting to collaborate with the YCAB team on efforts to share Instagram posts, etc. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if the gas water heater stickers will address the Emergency Replacement Program and if CASC could have an interaction with YCAB. Director Eggleston confirmed that the Emergency Replacement Program is an important component of the water heater stickers. CASC could have an interaction with YCAB. Committee Member Comments and Announcements Councilmember Burt suggested the September 5 meeting start at 3 p.m., and that YCAB attend that meeting. Director Eggleston stated meetings are scheduled for September 5 and 19. Staff will try to reschedule the October 3 meeting. He will look into YCAB attending the September 5 meeting. Vice Mayor Veenker mentioned that the general manager of NCPA announced his retirement, which will probably occur the end of January, so the Executive Committee will search for a successor this fall. As there has been misinformation circulating regarding Air District rules, she invited folks to reach out to her or the Air District directly with questions or concerns. The County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission will meet on Wednesday. Councilmember Burt queried if there could be a study session for City Council related to the Foothill Wildfire Prevention Plan or an update brought before the CASC. Director Eggleston will follow up with the City Manager regarding that. The Wildfire Audit is upcoming. Vice Mayor Veenker added that there is a plan to discuss wildfire mitigation in the next couple months. Agenda Items 1. Sustainability Priorities for the 2026-2027 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan(S/CAP) Work Plan; CEQA Status - Not a Project Approval of Schedule for 2025 Climate Action and Sustainability Committee Meetings Sustainability Program Manager Christine Luong provided slides and an overview. Key S/CAP areas have been divided into climate action areas and into 4 sustainability areas. There are 16 proposed sustainability priorities for 2026-2027 – 3 in water areas, 5 in climate adaptation and sea level rise, 5 in the natural environment area, and 3 in zero waste. She outlined the strategy for each. The proposals had been discussed with the Climate Action Working Group. There was overwhelming support for the WaterSmart Portal. It was suggested that awareness be raised related to practical things the community can do to address sea level rise. There was a suggestion to make increasing the tree canopy in South Palo Alto more goal oriented and/or measurable and achievable. There was a request for metrics to assess the health of existing trees and a request for more community education about impervious SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 surfaces. A final 2026-2027 S/CAP Work Plan final draft will be presented to the Committee for review, and then it will go to Council for review and possibly approval. Public Comments There were no comments. Councilmember Burt spoke of the nexus between wildfires and water impacts. A potential and significant risk is flood protection programs and plans being based on the protection of a watershed that will hold back flashflood waters, and a major fire in a watershed could change the ability to have the desired flood protection. He suggested that flooding impacts as a result of climate change be an additional topic. He discussed a flier which indicates the tree canopy is at 44 percent and asked if the percentage has increased because certain geographic areas are now included. He will forward a copy of the flier to Director Eggleston. Urban Forester Peter Gollinger replied that he is unfamiliar with the flier. The 44 percent sounds correct for the entire city limits. Studies primarily focus on urban areas. Excluding urban areas, it is not 44 percent but more in the mid-30s if averaged out. Manager Luong added that she believes the 44 percent is from Google Environmental Insights Explorer data. Director, Public Works Department, Brad Eggleston stated he will look into the flier. The goals and key actions in the S/CAP and the KPIs do not include the Foothills, etc. Vice Mayor Veenker understood that it is at 37 percent and aiming at 40 percent. Councilmember Burt addressed green stormwater and queried if filtration systems that run off heavily used roadways should be considered. Sea level rise should be adequately communicated to the community and City departments. He discussed Utility staff not being aware of certain requirements. He questioned what the boundaries are for the horizontal levees and if there has been a projection of anticipated water use based on continuing the efficiency trend combined with the impacts of new development, which is primarily housing. Assistant Director, Public Works, Karin North voiced that education is important, and Utility staff was recently trained on sea level rise requirements. Departments are being made aware of available maps and being reminded of the Sea Level Rise Policy adopted by Council. She outlined the boundaries of the horizontal levees. Director Eggleston added that the maps are in the GIS system and show ground water levels and projected levels of ground water increase. Tools are being built to address the concerns raised by Councilmember Burt. Assistant Director, Utilities, Karla Daley responded regarding projecting anticipated water use that they are in the process of reviewing a new demand study facilitated by the Bay Area Water Conservation Agency. There are preliminary numbers, which staff has questions about. They are being compared to the urban water use objectives. The information will be shared when it is ready. A first look at the demand study is tentatively scheduled for the December UAC meeting. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 Vice Mayor Veenker spoke of particulate matter from tires and brakes as it relates to green stormwater and filtration systems. She requested that staff speak to the concerns related to water distribution system risks from climate change. Director, Utilities, Alan Kurotori responded that on the water distribution side they are investigating fire hardening facilities and defensible space around such facilities. All pump stations have backup diesel generation. Electric infrastructure is being undergrounded, and fiber is being provided to all facilities. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if generators have to be diesel, if there is a sense of grant funding for sea level rise and the outlook for the grant for the RSAP Program, where information can be found regarding the horizontal levee, if there will be financial interaction between the horizontal levee and the existing levee repair, how the City interacts with the county program on food waste, and what is being done about textiles. Director Eggleston answered that generators use renewable diesel, which has significantly lower GHG emissions. Concerning the RSAP Program, the SB1 grant is for the coordinated County effort. There will not be any financial interactions between the horizontal levee and the existing levee repair. Watershed Protection Manager Julie Weiss replied that the county is optimistic about grant funding for sea level rise. She is cautiously optimistic. The proposal is solid. The hard deadline is September 30, but they expect to hear something in the next 2 weeks. Assistant Director North answered that information on the horizontal levee can be found on the website. There is a product factsheet. It is grant funded through the San Francisco Estuary Partnership. Hopefully ground will be broken in the next month or so. It will likely take 2 years to complete. Regarding food waste, staff is actively involved in the county program and sits on the committees, etc. Environmental Control Program Manager Maybo AuYeung replied regarding food waste that the City is following SB1383 and focusing on composting. The City has a recycling and composting ordinance. There is an edible food recovery requirement that is part of SB1383, which is addressed through a countywide effort through RWRC with joint ventures, which provides education and inspection of food service establishments. The City depends on the county program because it is efficient. Staff focuses on community education. The curbside program does not consider textiles recyclable. However, it is part of the clean-up day, and there is a Repair Cafe Program. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested there be greater frequency than just the clean-up day for textile recycling. Director Eggleston responded that staff will further consider enhancing/upgrading textile recycling. NO ACTION TAKEN 2. Status Update on Studies Related to the Electric Utility’s Reliability and Resiliency Strategic Plan (RRSP) Strategies 4 and 5 and Request for Feedback on Draft Proposals for Implementation. CEQA Status: Not a Project Assistant Director, Public Works, Jonathan Abenschein provided a status update. Progress has been made on all the strategies and actions in the RRSP, which is in Attachment F, and a lot of progress has been made on Strategies 4 and 5. Slides were displayed. Julian Parsley with Buro Happold led the cost SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 benefit analysis and will develop the overall report on Strategies 4 and 5 focusing on the cost benefit and potential programs. A couple other consultants’ work will also be integrated into the final report. He reviewed the technologies analyzed in the study, the findings on time-of-use (TOU) rates, and the cost benefit focused on utility supply cost, potential for deferring distribution investment, and short-term resiliencies from the technologies. All the information had been discussed with the Working Group, and there were questions about vehicle-to-grid cost effectiveness, neighborhood microgrids, and when TOU rates will roll out. The UAC was disappointed in the lack of opportunities for positive cost benefit; however, they were excited about TOU rates. There were suggestions to focus on messaging to take advantage of TOU rates, to provide guides on the types of appliances that can be used to take advantage of TOU rates, to use price incentives, and to broadly provide messaging about the different technologies. He shared the staff request that had been presented to the UAC. Staff is requesting clear guidance on the direction to take the final report on Strategy 4 and 5 analyses. Staff recommends promoting ways to reduce emissions using TOU rates; not doing incentives for demand response, stand- alone batteries, solar and batteries but to monitor the cost-to-benefit ratios to see if they change in the future; and looking for potential low-cost technical assistance programs. Staff wants to promote vehicle to home and vehicle to grid if it becomes available but not promote incentives. Opportunities for large- scale solar and battery can be explored as they become available, and he thinks they are engaged with the Cubberley design team to look at that and the airport microgrid. Commercial customers have approached the City, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis. They continue to pursue utility scale solar and storage and other renewables. Staff recommends monitoring opportunities for those doing innovative things in the space of distribution investment deferral but not pursuing additional analysis or implementing programs at this time. It is also recommended that the City’s current policies on microgrids and backup power be maintained but to continue to discuss long-term resiliency to determine if there are additional opportunities. Staff recommends keeping the analysis of the microgrid at the airport warm while the Water Quality Control Plant analyzes backup power alternatives. The aforementioned items were presented to the UAC, and their feedback is summarized in the Staff Report. All Commissioners supported education, reducing barriers, and the technologies overall. He believes most commissioners supported pursuing the staff requests. The UAC suggested being explicit about continuing to monitor cost benefits and pursuing low-cost technical assistance. The next steps are to incorporate the feedback and work with Buro Happold to write the final report summarizing all the cost benefit analyses done. There will not be a lot of incentive program recommendations. Strategy 5 will bring incentive program recommendations. Low-cost technical assistance and other forms of promotion, outreach, and education will be the main focus presented to Council. They are aiming to return to the CASC, the UAC, and Council by the end of the year. Director, Public Works Department, Brad Eggleston added that the Council item will include an overall comprehensive update on all the strategies of the plan] in addition to what Assistant Director Abenschein reviewed on the strategies. Item 2 Public Comment Bret A. liked what he heard at the Working Group meeting. The analysis is robust. He asked if there will be some type of time of export pricing for the energy to motivate folks to do storage and solar and if there will be a peak rate for exporting energy to the utility when automobiles eventually tie into the grid into the home. Vice Mayor Veenker inquired if export rates are contemplated. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 Assistant Director Abenschein answered that export rates are in place with the Net Energy Metering. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested addressing the 8 items individually. She agrees with the recommendation in the Staff Report related to Item 1. Councilmember Burt queried what point in time is being used for the costs and the benefits. Assistant Director Abenschein replied they are using the next 30 years for the costs and the benefits, which changes. He thinks the cost benefit data was pulled in the early spring, which is the current cost of equipment. Buro Happold Julian Parsley added that projected reductions in equipment costs were not incorporated. It addresses the projections for changes in utility costs over time. The capital costs were done in today’s dollars. Councilmember Burt questioned if Palo Alto’s specific electricity costs in the 5-year anticipated cost increases were used. Assistant Director Abenschein responded that it was not a retail analysis. The supply cost is about utility supply cost savings, not the savings to the customer. The program analyses have customer profiles, so the customer could experience savings, but it will provide a cost to the utility as a whole, and those details will be in the final report. This costs benefit is for the community as a whole. Based on current capital costs, in most cases it will not be worthwhile for the community to do this and it will not reduce overall community energy supply costs. Councilmember Burt discussed current capital costs and there being a solar reduction over the last 20 years. There is a drastic reduction in storage costs. He is not interested in the cost benefit of current storage costs but instead projections going forward, which are projected to be significant across all storage technologies and sectors. Regarding incentivizing residential storage, he inquired what is being assumed for the trends occurring in residential solar and storage independent of new incentives and the how much solar and storage there is. Much of the decision-making is not being based upon real cost benefits to the residents. He asked how those inherent trends will be leveraged toward the benefit versus what has to happen to take advantage of them. Assistant Director Abenschein stated he understands that the reflection of storage costs should be what the cost benefit will be in 3 or 5 years, not what it is currently. Promotion, outreach, resources, and reducing barriers helps with cost benefits to residents. He requested that the following numbers not be quoted but he believes Palo Alto is close to 21 megawatts in solar and that 30 to 100 kilowatts is installed every year in residential, which Palo Alto promotes and which is being built on, and it could all help leverage the technologies to the community’s benefit without extra investment in incentives or a lot of operating costs. Councilmember Burt voiced that he wants to see the going-forward projections. Vice Mayor Veenker commented she is inclined to not add incentives at this time. Councilmember Burt expressed that he wants a better sense of the projections in terms of opportunities going forward to leverage more and not necessarily the subsidized mold. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 Assistant Director Abenschein noted that he has enough information from the CASC on Item 1 and that 2 through 4 are the same, just listing different technologies. Councilmember Burt addressed Item 3 and noted that benefit to cost ratios will change. He requested this be reframed around expectations of equipment costs declining and electricity costs rising. Other than subsidies, he wants it to include actions that will be taken to leverage what is going to happen and greater potential adoption at whatever point that is. He desires a plan to leverage what is happening as opposed to a cause and acceleration. Assistant Director Abenschein stated he has a good sense how to frame things in the final report. Vice Mayor Veenker queried what the technology is for vehicle to grid and why it is costly. Assistant Director Abenschein answered that vehicle to grid is costly relative to the small benefit that demand response provides and essentially vehicle to grid ends up being demand response in a lot of ways. Buro Happold Parsley spoke of the technology needed for vehicle to grid, which is developing quicky, so it may become more common and less expensive over time. Vice Mayor Veenker addressed Item 5 and inquired if it is close to making cost benefit and economic sense now. She requested clarification of the recommendation. Assistant Director Abenschein responded that, with the investment tax credit, Item 5 is close to making cost benefit and economic sense now, but he expects it to fall significantly. The recommendation is to look at solar and storage projects on a case-by-case basis. The UAC had suggested pursuing solar and storage projects at the utility scale and other places even if there will not be widespread commercial local solar and storage investment. That is what staff has been doing and will continue to do. Councilmember Burt noted it is referencing utility scale solar and storage and asked if just storage is also being considered. Assistant Director Abenschein confirmed that just storage and other renewables will also be considered. Vice Mayor Veenker explained why the distribution investment deferral related to Item 6 makes her nervous. There seems to be a lot of variables without a lot of return, so she is not excited about pursuing it. Councilmember Burt mentioned that it ties into what will be seen in the next few years. He wants to do more than monitor opportunities. He wants to project where Palo Alto might be as opposed to looking at what has happened. Vice Mayor Veenker agreed. It appears that it will interrupt the grid modernization and that it will have a weird subjective effect as well. Assistant Director Abenschein referenced Slide 8 and spoke of a hypothetical situation related to battery costs and asked if there is a number that will make further pursuing the item worthwhile. As the potential benefit is small and there is technical complexity, he questioned if more time should be spent SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 on the item. There is value in doing projections around other technologies to understand where advantages could be taken. Councilmember Burt voiced more time should not be spent on the item. Vice Mayor Veenker agreed. She addressed Item 7, microgrids and backup power, and likes the idea of replacing backup diesel and generators. She asked what information staff wants from the CASC. Assistant Director Abenschein answered that he understands that the UAC is mostly aligned with keeping the current policies and that folks could put in their own microgrids but without subsidies but to facilitate them to the extent help is needed with barrier reduction. However, there is interest in long- term resiliency and understanding what it means to have power during a major emergency. Staff does not have a firm idea of the path forward for that. If the CASC desires, it can be carried forward and incentives discussed. Vice Mayor Veenker voiced that she is not that interested in incentives if they can be avoided. There needs to be a clearer look into the future. Long-term resiliency is important. She concurs with the UAC. Councilmember Burt stated Item 8 is potentially one of the largest projects and that better economy at scale would be achieved. He is interested in looking at the best perspective microgrids that would allow the costs to be reduced either because it is at a scale or integrated with another construction project that would build efficiency into it, such as the Cubberley Master Plan. There may be occasions to look at integrating solar and perhaps solar and storage. Vice Mayor Veenker moved to Item 8, which she is excited to see. Councilmember Burt commented that solarization and storage at the airport not only potentially supports the water control plant but the electrification of the airport and the trend of electric planes, etc. A group of companies identified Palo Alto Muni as a prime target for the airport and the trends there and indicated that a secondary benefit would be the ability to provide reliability and resiliency for the wastewater treatment plant. As for the cost benefit modeling, the revenue from selling the value of the awnings for planes exceeds revenue from the ground lease for the solar, and putting them together provides a different economic benefit, which he explained. He wants to look at more than one factor. Assistant Director Abenschein discussed the awnings and resiliency value and the most economical way to achieve the backup power needs. There is a need for backup power in e-aviation, but solar and storage delivering that is a question. There may be other alternatives. Councilmember Burt inquired if it is for routine charging in addition to backup. Assistant Director Abenschein replied that routine charging would be increasing the capacity of the airport’s interconnections so it can deliver as much energy as needed for all e-aviation Solar and storge is not needed for that. The awnings do not change the equation dramatically. Councilmember Burt queried if that is detailed in the report. Assistant Director Abenschein responded that he believes some of it is detailed at a high level. The awning revenue is in the appendix to the report focused on the programs. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 9 Climate Action & Sustainability Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 8/22/2025 Director, Public Works Department, Brad Eggleston added that the size of a solar system that would fit on the airport during peak season would essentially match the power use at the treatment plant. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if there is a timetable if there should a partnership to develop the microgrid between the airport and the Water Quality Control Plant. Assistant Director Abenschein responded that he does not see a viable path to it being by the end of next year. Director Eggleston added that there is somewhat of a pause on the long-range plan for the airport, which is planned to be picked up next year. He explained that making decisions is a process in itself. Vice Mayor Veenker queried if there needs to be a handshake between the long-range plan for the airport and this kind of backup. Director Eggleston acknowledged that is correct. There should not be significant changes that would mean starting over on the apron area tiedown and underground infrastructure. NO ACTION TAKEN Future Meetings and Agendas Vice Mayor Veenker declared that a time for the September 5 meeting will be determined, the topics of which were discussed at the beginning of this meeting. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:42 p.m.