Dear Mayor Nash and City Council Members,
I’m writing to you with support for the potential partnership with BlocPower on a voluntary program to help home and building owners switch from gas to clean electric and also provide local job training for new installers. This is a phenomenal opportunity for the City to utilize a public-private partnership to accomplish climate goals with minimal staff and resource requirements, and bring significant benefits to communities. I hope you’ll move forward quickly to support this opportunity.
When the City last discussed climate and electrification measures in August 2021, it was clear that more assistance was needed to help home and building owners move to clean electric as their methane gas (also called natural gas) appliances needed to be replaced. This program would provide that full assistance to residents and business who want to participate (it’s voluntary). Together with the assistance program is a workforce training program that will recruit locally for free training to become an installer of electric heating, cooling & appliances. This could also lead to a partnership with JobTrain, which would be exciting because these are “high road” jobs.
The most recent IPCC report on the state of climate science emphasizes that phasing out fossil fuels (including methane gas, which is the most common home heating source in Menlo Park) is crucial to maintaining a livable climate – not to mention the direct health and air quality benefits. Gas use in Menlo Park accounts for over 40% of the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. The BlocPower opportunity is a chance for Menlo Park to advance progress towards our climate goals in a smart, effective way that allows people to participate on their own terms.
Menlo Park has long been a leader on climate action. Just today the City was featured in a new podcast from City Climate Corner that highlights Menlo Park’s clean energy commitment at the new community center in Belle Haven, including a solar-battery microgrid that will provide emergency back-up power, and also saves the city $5 million over the project lifetime.
I hope you’ll continue Menlo Park’s leadership and innovation on climate measures with the proposed public-private partnership with BlocPower for affordable “turn key” assistance and job training on electrification. Also, I’m grateful to city staff for a lot of work to vet and finetune this proposal.
Sincerely,
Diane Bailey
Diane Bailey (she/her), Climate Change Professional (CC-P) | Executive Director
MENLO SPARK
diane@menlospark.org | 650-281-7073
Visit us: www.MenloSpark.org & www.FossilFreeBuildings.org
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Climate Neutral for a Healthy, Prosperous Menlo Park
EV, PV & Fossil Free: Guides for Electric Cars, solar & Fossil Free Homes at: http://menlospark.org/what-we-do/
“Every day that we delay our response to climate change, the situation gets more critical.” - Marina Romanello, research director and lead author on The Lancet report
