Stress Less; Pedal More
Silicon Valley Bike Commuters Push Pedaling for Improved Health
Brooke Ray Smith, shown wearing her bike commuter clothing, and “Blue Steel,” her Jamis Quest road bike. Smith rides Blue Steel everyday to her office at Passerelle Investment Co. in downtown Los Altos.
by Peg Champion, GreenTown Correspondent
While most Silicon Valley commuters dread their daily drive in stop-and-go traffic, Suzanne Ambiel looks forward to her ride to work. “My 15-minute commute is one of the most relaxing parts of my day.” A marketing manager at VMware in Palo Alto, Ambiel is one of many Los Altos residents who commute to work by bicycle.
Reasons to Ride
Besides avoiding the hassles of a car, you have plenty of reasons for taking a ride: personal health, environmental responsibility and that old stand-buy, money. Jim Thurber, fourth-grade teacher at Gardner Bullis Elementary, who commutes daily, says, “I’m a cheapskate. I hate to buy gasoline. I’d also like to put my cardiologist out of business.” Deb Kilpatrick, a senior vice president at a genomic diagnostics company in Palo Alto, agrees, “I like looking at my bike and car odometers in December each year. On average, my bike mileage is about two times that of my car. It’s great to see how much bike commuting lowers my carbon footprint – 15 to 20 percent annually. And it saves on car insurance, too.”
Nationally, only one in 165 Americans rides a bike to work, according to the 2010 US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS.) But in Silicon Valley, between three to eight times as many ride in some towns. “This is a beautiful place – with great weather – to commute on bike,” says Jim Fenton, a Los Altos resident who combines light rail with his ride to a job at a tech start-up in San Jose. “And, for the most part, the roads around here are bike-friendly.”
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Los Altos resident shares solar story
By John Bigler, Los Altos resident
In April 2006, we decided we were ready to “Go Solar” at our 2900 square foot Los Altos home. Our goal was to reduce our eco-footprint by generating our own electricity. After requesting bids from three different solar companies, we selected Mountain View based Cobalt Power Systems to design and build our rooftop Photovoltaic (PV) system. Out of our 3 bids, Cobalt’s analysis and proposal was the most complete and personalized to our needs. Upon reviewing our options, we chose a grid-tied PV system, where we generate and use our own solar power during the day, and use the PG&E power grid for our overnight electrical needs. Given the high reliability of the power grid in the Bay Area, we could not personally justify the option of installing a battery backup system for overnight power or to cover our power needs during PG&E power outages. During the day, when we generate more power than we use, the extra power feeds directly into the PG&E grid – and PG&E credits us for that over-generation. After the sun goes down, we draw electricity from the PG&E grid and pay for it using our daytime credits. To enable this daytime/nighttime tracking, we converted to PG&E’s Time-Of-Use (TOU) electric meter for our PV system. Since installation, our electric bill runs about $6/month, simply for rental of this TOU meter.
GreenTown Los Altos announces two new energy programs
Ryan Church of AVA Construction and Steve Schmidt at GreenTown's Energy Upgrade Meeting, 2/1/12
GreenTown Los Altos held a workshop on home energy upgrades on February 1. Two new GreenTown programs and the Energy Upgrade California program were explained to 40 people in attendance.
With the advent of Smart Meters®, it is now possible to analyze a household’s energy use from the comfort of your own home. GreenTown Los Altos, partnering with High Energy Audits, Inc. is offering a detailed online assessment of energy use using a web-based tool that can give you results in about 15 minutes. The tool identifies “hidden energy users,” such as electronics that are turned off but still drawing power, pool pumps, recirculation pumps and many others. The analysis can determine if you are a good candidate for the Energy Upgrade California program, which focuses on home heating and cooling efficiencies (see below). To qualify for the online assessment, you need to live in Los Altos, have lived in your home for at least a year and have a PG&E SmartMeter® . GreenTown is offering $50 online assessments for the first 50 homes in Los Altos that sign up to use this tool. Sign up at energy@greentownlosaltos.org. This tool is already available to Los Altos Hills residents through Acterra’s High Energy Homes project.
Faye Rachford, Energy Upgrade specialist, center, with two attendees
If your online assessment indicates that your heating and cooling loads are your primary concern, then you should consider an energy upgrade through the Energy Upgrade California program. This program entitles homeowners to substantial energy rebates – up to $4,000 in incentives with PG&E’s Advanced Upgrade Package. For a typical California home built before the 1980s, energy efficiency wasn’t part of the equation. “Energy was cheap, and the consequences of producing and using energy were not widely understood,” said Faye Rachford, an energy upgrade specialist with Energy Upgrade California. “Now, however, we look at the home as a system. We recommend that you begin with an energy assessment.” Go to Energy Upgrade and find a local contractor trained to conduct these assessments and perform any neccesary work. You may find that you save energy and money and end up with a more comfortable, healthier home. Act now, the incentives end this year!
To help you make the shift to renewable electricity, GreenTown Los Altos announced a second new program for homeowners, available both to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents. Working with Bay Area Climate Collaborative SunShares program, this effort leverages the buying power of several communities to attract a solar panel vendor with a highly competitive offer. If you have ever considered solar panels – now is the time! Sign up now to add your name to a list of residents interested in high-quality, low-cost solar energy. The contractor will be selected by February 27. We’re expecting attractively priced offers with lease options that can get you started with no money down. Questions? Email energy@GreenTownLosAltos.org.
Getting Inspired About Biking
Our guest speakers, Kurt Wallace Martin and Amy Harcourt, do not own a car and mostly get around by bike, on foot and via public transit. Once in awhile they use ZipCar. Their mission is to make it easy for others to do the same.
Did you know that 40% of the trips in suburbia are less than 2 miles, yet 90% of them are by car! This statistic was shared by the guest speakers at our “Get Inspired About Biking” event on January 19. Partners in the consulting firm Bikes Make Life Better shared some inspiring images and stories about a town, a university, and a company that are having success encouraging bicycling instead of driving solo. We also learned about some very cool technologies that blend GPS, solar, bicycling, mobile phones and the internet to encourage biking.
City Center as Living Room
In the 1970s the town of Groningen, Holland decided to do something about sprawl and traffic congestion. They developed a vision of a mostly car-free, compact city where the center would be like a “living room.” It would be a space where citizens would gather and move about freely, enjoying the beautiful architecture and canals without car congestion. They created a ring road around the city, moved most car parking outside the city center and made the roads bike-friendly and easy for public transit. There are even certain roads that are one-way for cars but two-way for bikes. And the city installed massive amounts of bike parking. Today 57% of all trips in town are made by bike.
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Energy Rebates Chase Away January Bills, Chills
By Peg Champion, GreenTown Los Altos Correspondent
It’s January.
It’s no fun checking your mailbox these days, because holiday bills have taken the place of holiday cards. It’s cold outside, and you’re chilly inside, keeping the thermostat down so your energy bill doesn’t shoot through the roof.
Ryan Church, AVA-Construction contractor, performs a blower door test to determine the amount of air leakage in the house.
The news isn’t all dreary. You can save up to 40 percent on your PG&E bill, help the environment by conserving water and energy, and make your home more comfortable, all at the same time.
But how?
GreenTown Los Altos is offering an evening workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 1, to review several programs that can save you money. The free workshop, led by energy experts, runs from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Neutra House, 183 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos. Click here to register .
One program, the Energy Upgrade California program, entitles you to substantial energy rebates from your utility – up to $4,000 in incentives with PG&E’s Advanced Upgrade Package. Currently, the rebates are designed for single-family homes.
For a typical California home built before the 1980s, energy efficiency wasn’t part of the equation. “Energy was cheap, and the consequences of producing and using energy were not widely understood,” says Faye Rachford, an energy upgrade specialist with Energy Upgrade California. “Now, however, we look at the home as a system. We recommend that you begin with an energy assessment. As the saying goes, ‘If you can measure it, you can manage it.’” Rachford will present details of the program at the February workshop.
