Letters from the Public - 2 of 2 — San Jose City Council, June 14, 2022

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Jason Mendelson
Daniel Baerwaldt
Robert M. Gould, MD; President, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility Kathleen Kramer, MD, CoFounder, Project Green Home
Sven Thesen, Founder, BeniSol, LLC
Barry Cinnamon, CEO, Cinnamon Energy Systems
Kristel Wickham, Chair, Sunnyvale Sustainability Commission, Advisor to Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon Robert Whitehair, Co Leader, San Mateo Climate Acon Team Leane Eberhart, San Mateo Architect
Jeﬀrey Perrone, Member, Alameda County Policy Squad, Climate Reality Project Jennifer Thompson, Execuve Director, Sustainable Silicon Valley Connie Miller, VP and Clean Air Chair of GreenTown Los Altos Bret Andersen, Carbon Free Palo Alto
Kathy Baat
George Dy, Member, Alameda County Policy Squad, Climate Reality Project Tom Dewey
Linda Sell, Co-Founder, Advisor, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon Gary Latshaw, securethefuture2100, Climate Reality Project, Guadalupe Regional Group Chair, Abimanyu Jayarman, Co-Lead, State Advocacy team, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon, San Jose resident, incoming freshman, UC Santa Barbara
Elise Chiu, Co-Lead, Cuperno Youth Climate Acon Team, Monta Vista High School Danica Kubota, Co-Lead, San Jose Youth Climate Acon Team, San Jose Resident, Presentaon High School Gwyn Azar, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon, incoming freshman at UC Davis Odin Bruyere, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon member Gary DIng, President, Harker Green Team; Co-Lead, San Jose Youth Climate Acon Team, Policy co-chair, Bay Area Youth Lobbying Iniave, San Jose resident
Aaditya Karnataki, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon member Richard Konda, Execuve Director, Asian Law Alliance
Tim Oey, Founder, ZeroW.org
Esther Duong, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon, UC Davis student Chloe Kwon, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Acon, incoming freshman at UC Santa Barbara Tom Kabat, Energy Engineer, SJSU Sustainability Commiee Member John McKenna, concerned cizen
Donna Davies, Carbon Free Mountain View, Climate Acon Team-LWVLAMV

We write to express our strong support for the Framework for Existing Building Electrification, a plan that will establish the long-term infrastructure needed to make building electrification more affordable and accessible for all San José residents.

The City of San José is recognized as a national leader and as a role model for other cities because of its bold climate and building decarbonization policies.
- The City’s reach code and natural gas infrastructure prohibition for new construction sent a strong market signal in support of electrification across the building industry, demonstrated the City’s commitment to climate action, and paved the way for dozens of other cities across California and the country to follow. - The City again made national headlines when it adopted a carbon neutrality by 2030 goal.

Now it’s time to focus on existing buildings, the source of one-third of the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. For the City to meet its carbon neutrality goal, it must reduce these emissions.

During the past year and a half, city staff have worked thoughtfully and collaboratively alongside community groups to develop a framework that encourages equitable decarbonization for existing buildings. The Framework for Existing Building Electrification was co-created with community-based organizations who understand and articulate the needs of historically marginalized communities. The Framework’s recommendations include supportive policies and programs designed to encourage and support homeowners, property owners, and tenants to electrify their homes and businesses. These supportive measures are intended to reduce barriers to electrification, particularly for low-income residents and historically marginalized communities.

The Framework for Existing Building Electrification prioritizes four key focus areas: health and air quality, housing and energy costs, high quality job opportunities, and clean and reliable energy. These focus areas will benefit the community in four important ways:

Improved health and indoor air quality
Gas appliances produce toxic gasses, including carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides, thatpollute indoor air and can lead to respiratory illnesses, including asthma, especially in children. Removing gas appliances from the home improves indoor air quality. Historically marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by poor air quality and higher rates of asthma. By switching to electricity, members of these communities can benefit from cleaner air at home.

Housing and Energy Costs
More than 1 in 10 San José households bear a high “energy burden,” spending more than 6 percent of their income on utility bills. Because modern electric appliances are much more energy efficient than gas appliances, most homes that go all-electric save money on utility bills. However, the up-front cost of building electrification will require a significant initial investment. For this reason, the Existing Building Electrification Framework recommends prioritizing sustainable funding sources and expanding incentives to reduce or cover the up-front cost of electric appliances, especially for low-income communities.

High Quality Job Opportunities
Building electrification has the potential to create many construction and retrofit job opportunities in San José. The Framework for Existing Building Electrification includes supportive programs that will expand workforce training opportunities, increase accessibility for historically marginalized communities, and generate high quality, local jobs. The City’s commitment to ensuring these jobs provide good wages with strong benefits will help increase economic prosperity for San José residents.

Clean and Reliable Energy
San José’s Framework for Existing Building Electrification seeks to increase community resilience, and make electrification more accessible to all, so the benefits of clean energy use are shared community-wide. In order to improve community resilience, San José’s Framework for Existing Building Electrification includes programs that will increase access to clean and reliable backup power, provide access to safe community spaces or ‘community resiliency hubs’ and help build a more resilient electric grid.

By passing the Framework for Existing Building Electrification, the City of San José is taking a big step toward its carbon neutrality goal as well as a long-term commitment to building electrification and to equity. The Framework for Existing Building Electrification will bring many benefits to San José residents, from high-quality local job opportunities, reliable energy, and a safer climate, to clean air and healthier homes.

We understand that the policies and programs needed to support building electrification will require a significant investment (i.e. funding resources, incentives), as well as additional staff capacity. These investments to upgrade and electrify our building stock are critically needed and will result in cleaner healthier homes for San José residents and lower utility bills in most cases, when paired with energy efficiency.

The framework sets San José in the right direction, but more will be needed to power the clean energy transition.

For these reasons, we urge the San José City Council to do two things on Tuesday, June 14:
- pass the Framework for Existing Building Electrification now, and - make a commitment to ensure meaningful investments to support the Framework’s implementation, for the health and safety of all San José residents.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Diane Bailey, Director, Menlo Spark
Leslie Alden, Executive Director, DRAWDOWN Bay Area
Lauren Weston, Executive Director, Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet Hoi Poon, Co-Founder, Advisor, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action Karen Nelson, Founder and Co-Chair, Climate Reality: Silicon Valley Susan Butler-Graham, Team Leader, Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley Laura Feinstein, Sustainability and Resilience Policy Director, SPUR Olivia Walker, Buildings Technical Strategist, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Glen Garfunkel, Legislative Chair, San Jose Community Energy Advocates Richard Konda, Executive Director, Asian Law Alliance
Bruce Naegel, Director Metrics and Research, Sustainable Silicon Valley Ole Agesen
Debbie Mytels, Chair, Peninsula Interfaith Climate Action (PICA) Hoai-An Truong, Leadership Team, Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley Michelle Hudson, Co-Leader of the San Mateo Climate Action Team Stephanie Morris, Leadership Team, Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley Jason Mendelson
Daniel Baerwaldt
Robert M. Gould, MD; President, San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility Kathleen Kramer, MD, CoFounder, Project Green Home
Sven Thesen, Founder, BeniSol, LLC
Barry Cinnamon, CEO, Cinnamon Energy Systems
Kristel Wickham, Chair, Sunnyvale Sustainability Commission, Advisor to Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action
Robert Whitehair, Co Leader, San Mateo Climate Action Team Leane Eberhart, San Mateo Architect
Jeffrey Perrone, Member, Alameda County Policy Squad, Climate Reality Project Jennifer Thompson, Executive Director, Sustainable Silicon Valley Connie Miller, VP and Clean Air Chair of GreenTown Los Altos Bret Andersen, Carbon Free Palo Alto
Kathy Battat
George Dy, Member, Alameda County Policy Squad, Climate Reality Project Tom Dewey
Linda Sell, Co-Founder, Advisor, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action Gary Latshaw, securethefuture2100, Climate Reality Project, Guadalupe Regional Group Chair, Abimanyu Jayarman, Co-Lead, State Advocacy team, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, San Jose resident, incoming freshman, UC Santa Barbara
Elise Chiu, Co-Lead, Cupertino Youth Climate Action Team, Monta Vista High School Danica Kubota, Co-Lead, San Jose Youth Climate Action Team, San Jose Resident, Presentation High School
Gwyn Azar, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, incoming freshman at UC Davis Odin Bruyere, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action member Gary DIng, President, Harker Green Team; Co-Lead, San Jose Youth Climate Action Team, Policy co-chair, Bay Area Youth Lobbying Initiative, San Jose resident Aaditya Karnataki, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action member Richard Konda, Executive Director, Asian Law Alliance
Tim Oey, Founder, ZeroW.org
Esther Duong, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, UC Davis student Chloe Kwon, Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, incoming freshman at UC Santa Barbara Tom Kabat, Energy Engineer, SJSU Sustainability Committee Member John McKenna, concerned citizen
Donna Davies, Carbon Free Mountain View, Climate Action Team-LWVLAMV

This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.

The Pathway to Carbon Neutrality lays out the steps we will need to take to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, including shifting to electric vehicles, all-electric buildings, and 100% clean electricity. The latest climate science shows that we must reduce fossil fuel usage rapidly to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change. San Jose’s Pathway to Carbon Neutrality will help us get there.

Please listen to parents and our allies: approve the Existing Building Electrification Framework and Pathway to Carbon Neutrality to help ensure a livable climate and safe homes for our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,
Susan Butler-Graham
Pronouns: she/ella
"Climate justice is making sure that everyone has an equal opportunity for a healthy and safe life." -Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
“The iron law of climate change is that the less you did to cause it, the sooner you feel its effects...Those who poured the most carbon into the air will be dead before its effects are fully felt.” -Bill McKibben

Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley urges you to vote in support of the city staff’s proposed Existing Building Electrification Framework and Pathway to Carbon Neutrality by 2030 as essential parts of the solution to meet our net zero climate goals in San José. We ask that these plans be strengthened with designated financial and human resources and specific target deadlines.

Paying for electrification, while expensive, is much cheaper than paying for the costs of climate destabilization. $545 million is already being spent to shore up levees to protect north San José from flooding. Costs to build a seawall to protect the Embarcadero in San Francisco have been estimated at $5 billion. Damage from California wildfires in the past few years has cost as much as $10 billion per fire.

Now is the moment to act for the climate. We are running out of time. There is widespread support in the South Bay for climate action, and the people of San José are counting on you to take the necessary steps to fulfill your pledge to reach net zero carbon emissions in our city by 2030. Since the energy used in buildings generates 20-30% of our region’s greenhouse gas pollution, it’s essential to adopt an ambitious plan to power our buildings with clean electricity, not fossil gas.

We are also looking to you to protect our children and other residents from the toxic chemicals emitted by gas appliances, particularly gas stoves. Studies have shown that children living in homes with gas stoves have up to 42% percent increased risk of developing asthma. The use of gas stoves and ovens can quickly elevate levels of particulate matter that, if found outdoors, would be illegal. Therefore, supporting residents to transition from gas to electric appliances is not only the right thing to do for the climate, it’s the right thing to do for our health.

Mothers Out Front is a national movement of mothers and allies who are mobilizing to preserve a livable climate for all children. We have over 35,000 supporters nationwide, more than 2,000 of whom live in Santa Clara County. We are extremely concerned about what our children’s future will look like. Please vote in favor of existing building electrification and a pathway to carbon neutrality.

Sincerely,
Susan Butler-Graham, Team Coordinator, Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D9 Stacy Levy, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D1 Amanda Senior, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D2 Brenda Rodriguez, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D3 Kathy Nunes, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D3 Isabella Nguyen Chappuis, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front, San José resident, D4 Blanca Alvarado, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front, San José resident, D5 Hoai-An Truong, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D6 Ruth Merino, Supporter of Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident D6 Shreya Krishnan, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D7 This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.

This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.

Moria Merriweather, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D7 Julie Allingham, Supporter of Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D8 Linda Hutchins-Knowles, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, Karl Knapp GoEV Senior Manager at Acterra, San José resident, D9
Jenny Green, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D9 Martina Keim, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, San José resident, D10 DeAnna Pursai, Mothers Out Front Member & Rotary Club of San José Climate Action Chair, San José resident, D10
Stephanie Morris, Volunteer with Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley

This message is from outside the City email system Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources This message is from outside the City email system Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources Please approve the Existing Building Electrification Framework and Pathway to Carbon Neutrality to help ensure a livable climate for our children.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Smeekens

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6.1 Climate Smart San José Existing Building Electrification Framework Brian Tham <
Tue 6/14/2022 6:43 AM
To: City Clerk <
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Hello City Council of San Jose,
I’m a Bay-Area resident and a student at Mountain View High School. On behalf of my community, I express our strong support for electriﬁcaon of household appliances to move forward quickly, which would greatly reduce carbon emissions and use of fossil fuels.

I can already feel the heat of the summers becoming increasingly sweltering over the years from climate change. At the me of wring, California is already experiencing a heat wave with shocking record-high temperatures. We cannot connue to live this way. Therefore, we need to push electriﬁcaon on pre-exisng buildings to help eliminate carbon emissions because gas household appliances are a major contribung factor to carbon emissions.

Because San Jose Clean Energy already oﬀers 95% carbon free electricity, by switching to electric appliances, we can signiﬁcantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions while also improving air quality and reducing our energy usage. Addionally, clean appliances like heat pumps also provide clean cooling and air ﬁltraon, which is extremely important since San Jose sees increasing numbers of extreme heat and wildﬁre smoke days.

Without electriﬁcaon, we will connue to use unclean energy sources to fuel heavily used appliances which already produce a substanal amount of carbon emissions. As a result, it is essenal to push for electriﬁcaon of household appliances in order to reduce carbon emissions from both the energy source and the appliances themselves.

By replacing gas appliances with electric ones in pre-exisng buildings, we eliminate the signiﬁcant carbon emissions that would have been produced by those gas appliances.

I urge the San Jose City Council to lead San Jose towards a beer path by reducing carbon emissions through electriﬁcaon of household appliances.

Sincerely,
Brian Tham

This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.

The revised parking ordinance will encourage mode shift from cars to alternative methods of clean transportation.

Please approve the Existing Building Electrification Framework, Pathway to Carbon Neutrality, and revised parking minimums to help ensure a livable climate for our children—and then take the next step soon to end the carve out for gas-powered fuel cells.

Thank you,
Linda Hutchins-Knowles

San Jose City CouncilJune 14, 2022

San Jose City Council
June 14, 2022