Amador County - The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday heard a presentation regarding the Local Governments for Sustainability Program, or ICLEI, and the latest findings on energy use and emissions output in Amador County. The board had previously approved participation in the program with an annual membership fee of $600, beginning in 2006. Jerry Scott, Director of Amador Citizens for Energy Conservation, made the presentation along with input from General Services Director Jon Hopkins. Hopkins said we are here to show you “what your $600 pays for every year.” Scott narrated a PowerPoint presentation detailing the results of an energy efficiency study conducted in cooperation with Mother Lode Energy Watch, a partnership between PG & E and the majority of counties in the Sierra Foothill Region. Scott said his group “volunteered nearly 150 people hours over the last year” for the study and “has probably given you a twenty-fold increase in your investment.” Scott said the goals of the study are to reduce Amador County energy use and costs in order to comply with state regulations. These are Assembly Bill 32, which requires a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2020, and Senate Bill 375, which provides emissions-reducing goals and incentives for local governments and developers. Chairman Ted Novelli pointed out that Senate Bill 375 did not apply to Amador County. Using statistic and polling software, Scott and his group concluded that solid waste and employee commuting accounted for over 80 percent of county generated greenhouse emissions. The county vehicle fleet and employee commute were 51 percent and 31 percent of the county’s energy use, respectively. Also beginning in December 2008, ICLEI put together a list of 97 energy savings projects, which was eventually narrowed down to 11 considered most feasible to receive federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Scott said “a lot of big jobs where engineering was involved got put on the back burner” in order to make way for jobs more likely to receive funding. Hopkins said projects as simple as changing light bulbs have reduced energy use in some areas by half. Scott said “we have an opportunity to reduce costs that we’ve identified as necessary.” Supervisor Brian Oneto expressed skepticism about the project and arbitrarily recalled a recent but unsuccessful attempt by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to negotiate emissions cuts with India. Scott said “India and China have been dragging their feet, but I don’t think they are going to last as long with their air quality.” The Supervisors approved the data presented by Scott 4-1 with Oneto opposing for undisclosed reasons. The Supervisors will raise the topic again on a future agenda. Supervisor Richard Forster said “our goal should be to try and become as energy efficient as possible. We should aim for those goals for the whole county.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.