Tag Archives: energy

15. Fund Regional Transportation with Express Lanes

Express LaneOriginal Photo: Flickr user rutio. Used under Creative Commons license.

Charge solo commuters to use the express “carpool” lane and use that money to help fund SamTrans and Caltrain. – Elizabeth Lasensky

The VTA Express Lane project in Santa Clara County already follows a similar model.

Assembly Bill 2032 directs that revenue from express lanes operations be reinvested in projects and services that provide traffic congestion relief in the express lanes corridor. This will include operation and maintenance of the express lanes and expanding public transit service within the corridor.  This may allow funds collected to be invested in SamTrans and other transportation within the county.

14. More (and Better) Bus Shelters

BusShelter

Original Photo: Flickr user crderivative.  Used under Creative Commons license.

Install bus shelters that provide shelter from the weather, not advertising space.

Recently many of the bus shelters which had provided shelter from summer hot afternoon sun and winter rain and wind, we removed and replaced with more open shelters which provided illuminated billboards for advertising, but which do not provide protection from weather.

Since a rider has to wait for up to an hour, sometimes more, for a bus, don’t they deserve some protection? It gets pretty rough out there. The old shelters should have been kept in place which would have increased the number of shelters. – Dana Callen

9. Solar Panels on All County Buildings

solarpanels

Original Photo: Flickr user Pink Dispatcher.  Used under Creative Commons license.

Install solar panels on all San Mateo County buildings to achieve an economy of scale.

We must act to mitigate global warming. – Charlie Nordlinger

4. White Roofs

Paint-the-roof-white

Original Photo: Flickr user Patrick Gage. Used under Creative Commons license.

Provide incentives for homeowners and businesses to save energy and reduce carbon emissions in areas of the county that experience high summertime temperatures by painting the roofs of their homes and commercial buildings white.

Obama Energy Secretary Steve Chu has been promoting this as an extremely cost effective way to save energy and reduce air conditioning costs.  A White Roof component could be added to the San Mateo County’s existing Green Building Program to encourage new construction and remodelling projects to include this initiative.  Owners of existing homes and commercial properties could be offered a rebate to participate.

For more information take a look at these links:
Steven Chu’s White Revolution

Energy Smart: Local Action “White Roof (Cool) Roof Project”