Green Ventura
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New Energy Efficiency Program for Non-Profit Organizations in Ventura
Non-profit organizations with a facility in the City of Ventura may be eligible to participate in a new Energy Efficiency Program, if you meet the basic requirements. This innovative program, funded by a portion of the federal stimulus funds awarded to the City of Ventura, will provide no-cost lighting retrofits to reduce electricity costs for qualified organizations.
To qualify, your organization must meet the following minimum criteria:
- Registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the City of Ventura
- Responsible for the payment of your electricity bill. You cannot share your electricity with another entity
- Spend an average of $200 per month or more on your Edison electricity bill for the past 6 months.
Although not a mandatory requirement, preference will be given to organizations that operate at least three days per week (longer operating hours means more energy savings.)
Interested non-profits should download an application form (PDF). Applications are due by Friday, August 20.
Please submit questions to jyahner@cityofventura.net or call 652-4558.
Why is the program valuable?
Lower electric bills will assist community organizations, such as preschools, youth facilities, and churches, to direct more funds to their core missions. Administered by the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance, participating organizations will also learn about the financial and environmental benefits of conserving energy.
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Ventura's Green Initiative
In 2007, Ventura's City Council adopted the Green Initiative. The Green Initiative is the first of many steps toward the City's goal of becoming a national model for sustainability. Since its adoption, the City has completed a Green House Gas Inventory which was certified and registered by the California Climate Action Registry, as well as joined the Sierra Club Cool Cities Program and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.
Since that time, the City has worked steadily to implement the "Get Your Green On" campaign that encompasses 10 action items:
Footprint (1): Identify the City's Carbon Footprint and inventory greenhouse gas emissions for all City Operations.
Green Buildings (2): Retrofit existing City buildings in order to qualify for LEED EB and/or Energy Star Certification.
Green Fleet (3): Set a Tier One Performance Measure Goal to reduce City fleet gasoline use by 5% below FY 06-07' baseline and 10% in FY 08-09'. The City should also attempt to use biodiesel fuel in all diesel equipment.
Energy Usage (4): Increase Tier One Performance Measure goal to reduce City energy usage by 5% below FY 06-07' baseline in FY 07-08' and 10% in FY 08-09', as well as implement the following:
Remove extra refrigerators, heaters, etc... from City facilities.
- Purchase only Energy Star rated equipment and appliances for City Use.
- Turn off all lights (except in hallways) at 6:00 pm.
- Unplug any devices that are not currently charging.
- As needed, replace all CRT monitors with flat screen monitors and progran all monitors to shutdown at 12:00 am.
- Insulate heaters and set HVAC systems to more efficient temperature levels (+/- 3 degrees).
Green Purchasing (5): Develop and implement a comprehensive Green Preference Purchasing Policy.
Trees (6): Double the amount of trees planted annually. Beginning in FY 08-09' and increase the use of native plants and xeriscape planting in parks, medians, and City facilities.
Green Business (7): Expand recognition, retention and recruitment efforts for "green businesses." Collaborate with the Chamber of Commerce, DVP and other groups in order to promote green business practices.
Waste Reduction (8): Implement Waste Reduction programs to achieve 70% diversion of solid waste.
Construction Waste Reduction (9): Require new construction/demolition projects to divert at least 50% of their waste from the landfill.
Promote Green Leadership (10): Promote leadership with City Staff by implementing the following:
- Provide incentives for ride-sharing, walking, or alternative transportation to/from work.
- Assign department Environmental Coordinators.
- Work with coordinators to develop citywide sustainability policy and/or programs.
- Set all copiers to print double-sided.
- Make sure every office has a desk side recycling container.
- Encourage employees to combine multiple out-of-office errands and trips.
- Utilize web board for internal environmental dialog.
- Provide recycling containers at all City events and functions.
Learn More
Most Venturans are passionate about our environment, whether it is recycling trash, keeping our beaches clean or protecting our hillsides. You probably didn't know that your City embraces that same vision. Here are some of the things we are doing to think globally and act locally:
You probably didn't know that your City embraces that same vision. Here are some of the things we are doing to think globally and act locally:
- In the last two years, we've reduced electricity usage by 25% in City facilities, saving money and reducing carbon emissions by 1.2 million pounds per year.
- By investing in solar and other renewable forms of energy, we've cut carbon emissions by 3.1 million pounds a year.
- By using hybrid electric vehicles, we've reduced gasoline use by 1,500 gallons a year.
- We offer and expedited plan-check process for new buildings and additions that meet national "green building" standards.
- Building and Safety's Green Building Forms
- Construction is underway to improve water quality at Surfers Point by diverting dry weather runoff from the storm drain systems into the sewer system for treatment.
- We're operating the new Community Park without pesticides and our goal is to eliminate pesticides in all parks within 5 years.
- To learn more about the Green Initiative and the Get Your Green On campaign check out the following document: Administrative Report for the Green Initiative.
Ventura’s Environmentally-Friendly Practices
The City of Ventura Public Works Department uses a number of earth-friendly practices to divert waste from landfill including but not limited to:
Concrete/Asphalt Recycling - More than 26,000 tons of concrete, asphalt and soil are recycled during City construction projects each year. Contractors who perform construction and demolition work for the City are directed to divert the materials from landfill disposal.
Green Waste and Wood Recycling - Public Works recycles almost 24,000 tons of green waste and wood each year. Tree trimmings, beach storm debris, and wood from demolition projects are either chipped by City crews or separated and delivered directly to Cal Wood, a local company that processes the materials into soil amendment products. Public Works also gives away free mulch to residents at the Ventura College Compost site.
BioSolids Recycling - Public Works diverts 17,000 tons of biosolids annually from landfill disposal. The biosolids are generated at the City of Ventura Wastewater Treatment Plant and used as agricultural soil amendments. In the past, such biosolids were disposed of in landfills.
Grasscycling - Public Works no longer collects and bags grasses cut at City parks. By allowing grass clippings to decompose naturally, the City saves almost 1,000 tons per year of grass clipping disposal.
Maintenance Services - Public Works reduces waste through a variety of methods including recapping and reusing old tires, reconditioning and reusing antifreeze collected from City vehicles, recycling all motor oil and filters collected from City vehicles, using re-refined motor oil in City vehicles, recycling all automotive batteries, and recycling wood pallets.
Air Quality - The City of Ventura has demonstrated its commitment to clean air by using electric and alternative fuel vehicles in its fleet. The City currently uses 2 electric vehicles and 5 gas- electric hybrid vehicles. Additionally, in cooperation with its Franchise Refuse and Recycling collector (E. J. Harrison and Sons), the City of Ventura has begun implementation of a rigorous Clean Air Plan that replaces diesel with cleaner Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) fuels. A LNG fueling station was installed in 2003 with help from a grant awarded by the Air Quality Control Board, thus allowing for an increasing number of converted trash trucks (diesel to LNG) to run cleanly.
E. J. Harrison Franchise Agreement
Since 1993, the Public Works Department has been responsible for administering the City’s solid waste franchise agreement with Harrison Industries for the collection of refuse, recyclable materials, and green waste materials from Ventura residents and businesses. The agreement was revised in 2000 and will extend until 2010. E.J. Harrison’s compliance with the contract is reviewed annually. If Harrison meets all the requirements of the contract, they are eligible for a small rate increase (usually 1% to 3%) based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The new franchise agreement has a number of additional requirements not contained in the previous agreement. Two significant changes are:
Commercial Unicycling Program - Unicycling allows most businesses to use one container for their trash and recyclables. The commingled materials are taken to Gold Coast recycling where most of the recyclable materials are picked out of the waste stream and recycled. This is a great benefit for businesses with room for only one refuse container.
Diversion Requirements – The new agreement requires E.J. Harrison to divert a significant amount of the waste they collect. The following diversion goals are required by the agreement:
- Divert 45% of all residential waste
- Divert 18% of all commercial waste
- Divert 25% of all waste collected from roll-off bins
- Clean Air Plan – Diversion Requirements also extend into business operations. In addition to the installation of a liquid natural gas (LNG) fueling station, a minimum of 10 E.J. Harrison trash trucks will operate on cleaner burning LNG.
- Gold Coast Recycling The City’s agreement with Gold Coast Recycling was established in 1997. The agreement continues until 2007. Gold Coast is a large facility called a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) or Transfer Station. The facility accepts large amounts of trash and recyclable materials. Trash is separated out and trucked off to Toland Landfill for disposal. Recyclable materials are sent through a state-of-the-art sorting system where they are separated into different commodities (e.g. paper, cardboard, aluminum, etc.) and shipped off for sale in domestic and foreign markets.
Volunteer Opportunities
Public Works Department Environmental Services has a variety of volunteer opportunities each year to help make Ventura's Environment even better. No experience is necessary; City staff will provide training. Some of the volunteer opportunities available are:
- Video Production Assistants: Assisting in taping and production of "Ventura's Environment" (a weekly half-hour cable TV program produced by Ventura Public Works that examines environmental conservation issues in Ventura)
- Composters: Assist in building compost bins and other exhibits at the Ventura College compost demonstration site; assist in Saturday compost workshops; help maintain compost piles and worm bins at Ventura College.
- Household Hazardous Waste Helpers: Checking-in participants and directing traffic at quarterly Household Hazardous Waste events (four Saturdays per year).
- Business Recycling Ambassadors: Assisting Ventura businesses to implement and maintain recycling programs.
- Recycling Research Assistants: Collecting data through field studies of recycling habits of Ventura residents and businesses. Data collected will guide City staff in making program decisions and revisions.
- For more information on how you can join our volunteer programs,
- call Environmental Services, at (805) 652-4525.
- Environmental Ambassadors: Staffing environmental exhibits at local events throughout the year (usually during weekends).
Kinds of Waste
- Green Waste
- Green Waste is organic material such as leaves, grass clippings, twigs, branches and wood scraps. All green waste collected by E.J. Harrison is taken to California Wood Recycling (Cal Wood) where it is ground into small pieces and used as mulch or burned for energy. Green waste makes up about 36% of the City's total waste stream, so it is important for the City to divert as much of this waste as possible.
- Residential Green Waste or Yard Waste
- Each resident with trash service from E.J. Harrison receives a 100-gallon green waste bin at no additional cost. Green Waste bins are collected once every two weeks and recycled into mulch and soil amendments at Cal Wood. We encourage residents to compost green waste whenever possible
- More information about Composting and the Compost Bin Subsidy Program
- Commercial Green Waste
- Any business that does not have an outside landscaping service and generates over 100 gallons of green waste per week will be offered green waste service with no increase to their monthly rate. Businesses can also self-haul their green waste to Cal Wood, which has a lower tipping fee than other disposal sites.
- California Wood Recycling
- Cal Wood specializes in processing, managing, recycling and marketing wood and green waste materials. Since Cal Wood was founded in 1990 they have:
- Diverted more than 1,000,000 tons of wood and green waste from landfills
- Generated cost savings of more than $15 million for the cities served