Progress Update: CAR Goal 3 - County Facilities Carbon Neutral, Zero Waste & Resilient

Climate Action and Resiliency Goal 3 “Make all County facilities carbon free, zero waste and resilient” has three objectives:

1. Design or retrofit County facilities to be carbon neutral, zero waste and incorporate resilient construction techniques and materials.
2. Design or retrofit County facilities that promote and maximize telework to decrease greenhouse gas emissions generated by employee commutes.
3. Invest in County owned facilities, establishing carbon eliminating microgrid technology and improving energy grid resilience to reduce the impact of power loss during power shutdowns and natural disasters (floods, fires, earthquakes), prioritizing critical infrastructure such as command and communications facilities.

The County of Sonoma engaged the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Sustainable Solutions Turnkey (SST) program through a Master Services Agreement in July of 2021 to evaluate County buildings for energy efficiency and resiliency upgrades and make County facilities carbon free and resilient.  The SST program aims to be a “one-stop solution” that identifies, prioritizes, funds, and implements energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage, and water conservation services and measures for medium and large customers, including local governments.  SST energy services and upgrades include lighting, HVAC, controls, renewable energy, batteries, microgrids, EV chargers, water efficiency, and other measures. In addition to carrying out project assessments and audits, SST brings together financing options, including zero interest utility on-bill financing, low-interest loans, available rebates, incentives, tax credits, and combines these with County funds earmarked for these types of capital improvements.  The financing covers the cost of construction, including permits, fees, inspections, and amortizes the initial costs of the investment grade audits.  Different financing options are available for different projects based on a defined set of criteria.  To date 79 out of a planned 85 facilities have been evaluated for energy, lighting and water conservation opportunities that may be subject for a more in-depth Investment Grade Audits (IGAs) of building energy use.  The results of these audits will be presented to your Board in a Master Energy Plan by the end of 2023.

In February of 2022, your Board approved $1,771,230 from the Climate Resilience Fund (CRF) for energy and resiliency upgrades to the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building (Veterans Building), In August 2023 your Board approved the energy upgrades project.

In 2022, staff reserved incentives for 11 no-cost heat pump water heaters and installation through the PG&E Local Government Partnership.  To date 6 have been installed, with 5 units awaiting installation.  The total value of these incentives is $171,957.

On January 31, 2023, the Board approved a space standard of 170 square foot per person for the planning and design of County offices.  Currently, County office spaces range between 50 square feet to 300 square feet per person.  By establishing an efficient space standard, not only would office space be equitably allocated, but less carbon would be used in construction and in the operation of the lighting, heating ventilation and cooling when compared to larger offices. 

In 2022 the County established a telework policy that allows up to half of an employee’s work hours to be conducted through telework, at the discretion of the department head and subject to a formal telework agreement.  Employees participating in the telework program are required to log their telework days in the County’s Online Trip Tracker (see Attachment 5 for more information about the Online Trip Tracker).

Much of the progress towards facilitation of telework to reduce greenhouse gasses has been in the build-out of existing space.  Technology is a major factor in the success of telework and how technology interfaced in County offices to connect with those working from home places new demands in the design process.  In partnering with Information Systems Department, Public Infrastructure has incorporated technology infrastructure in the design of workstations and conferences rooms.  Much has been learned from necessity during the pandemic and market solutions have increased in availability.  In the design or retrofitting existing offices, various solutions can be incorporated depending on budgets.  Wireless access points are being increased to accommodate a higher number of wireless users such as staff who would normally work from home but would come into the office for various reasons.  Most conference rooms have been outfitted with large monitors in addition to computer and data lines to facilitate online presence of remotely working staff. 

For remote workers coming into the office, space planning of office renovations includes setting aside program areas specifically for teleworking staff and providing reduced size office spaces as part of the design.  Teleworking staff are seen to require less office space since their primary workstation is home and the main reason for coming to the office would be for meetings.  They would be provided a seat and work surface, power and data for their laptops and using share facilities such as conference rooms for meetings.

To enhance the presence of teleworking staff in collaborative environments, Information Systems Department and Public Infrastructure are making available options for departments for Smart Conference Rooms and Hot Desks.  Smart Conference rooms can add to current conferencing technology items including Virtual Markerboards where any participant in a meeting regardless of location can add or control content to a markerboard to assist in capturing salient points of a meeting.  Meeting room displays to allow online reservation agendas and notifications are being introduced to County offices.  Hot Desking will be an option available to departments to allow for the management and assignment of a single workstation to multiple users. 

Non-traditional workstations are being considered for new office designs for teleworking staff.  While reduced workstations or library-style carrels have been used, non-traditional workstations may be options that will provide comfort, increase collaboration, increase flexibility, and ultimately increase productivity.  The adoption of the Space Standard of 170 square feet per person is key to providing a basis on which to plan for teleworking and non-teleworking staff.

In 2023 your Board approved a contract (using Strategic Plan Funding) for a Zero Waste Audit and Characterization Study to establish a baseline understanding of current waste levels and conditions. It will clearly quantify the amount of waste the County disposes of in all of its waste streams, including the types of materials compose these different waste streams.  The Study will provide the County and its partners with critical data needed to achieve zero waste at all County facilities.  Because the waste characterization component is being conducted over less than a full year period, it will rely on the historic data collected through the inventory process to project annual waste totals.  The final study will be presented to your Board in September.

Public Infrastructure is partnering with Zero Waste Sonoma to reduce construction debris and demolition (CD&D) waste.  The Ordinance endeavors to maximize the recovery of CD&D materials through commercially viable options and by requiring all CD&D Projects to comply with the jurisdiction’s requirements. The intent of these provisions is to recover all recoverable amounts of CD&D materials and minimize CD&D materials disposed. Applicants for projects are required to prioritize deconstruction, reclaim, reuse, recycling, composting and non-disposal recovery for all CD&D materials generated by the project. Staff expects to present this item to your Board for consideration in December 2023.  Public Infrastructure has already incorporated specifications to construction contracts that are consistent with the proposed ordinance.

Lastly, projects currently in design such as the Morgue/Public Health Lab and the Community Emergency Resiliency Center sites are designed under the California Green Building Standards Code—Part 11, Title 24, California Code of Regulations—known as CALGreen.