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noted that coordinating sustainability and energy programs with economic development <br />features is important because the City wants to attract businesses that will fit within the <br />CAP and will make us sustainable as we go forward. He indicated that the most <br />important thing that he has talked to the City Council and Senior Management about is <br />to lead by example and practice sustainability within local government before we can <br />expect our community to do that. He added that the City has have been very proactive, <br />and it has been a very successful program. <br /> <br />Mr. Smith stated that the City can take credit for roughly a little over half of the <br />emissions it has to reduce through the requirements of State law, such as the effects for <br />passenger vehicle emissions, low carbon fuel standards, and renewal portfolio <br />standards for PG&E. He indicated that what are left are the green ones that are built <br />He noted that the numbers on the final CAP have changed a bit <br />because when the Plan was taken to Council, the public education engagement piece, <br />which is one of the most important, was still happening. He added, however, that a lot <br />of these were integrated into the Energy programs rather than the education piece, <br />although this is mere cosmetic as the content remains the same. <br /> <br />Commissioner Olson inquired what means. <br /> <br />Mr. Smith replied that since the price of fuel has gone up so much, people are buying <br />less gas as they are not traveling as much, which results in a decrease in the production <br />of GHG. <br /> <br />Commissioner Olson inquired if there is a built-in assumption that this will continue. <br /> <br />Mr. Smith said yes, because fuel prices will continue go up rather than down. He noted <br />that this was recognized by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) <br />and the Alameda County Transportation model and that we can take credit for that as <br />well. <br /> <br />Commissioner Pentin stated that he thinks this would extend further with respect to the <br />2020 requirements as the cost of fuel is supposed to rise at about 39 percent by 2020. <br /> <br />Mr. Smith agreed and indicated that the increase in the cost of fuel is built into the <br />model. <br /> <br />Mr. Smith then presented the big picture of what the City needs to do. He explained <br />that If we took the 2005 numbers and we wanted to be down to the 1990 levels by 2020, <br />and if we took the General Plan and took the number of houses and businesses we <br />were going to add and we did not do anything, we would actually have to reduce our <br />GHG emissions by over 30 percent by 2020; the rate of reduction from 1990 to 2005 is <br />only 15 percent. He indicated that the State measures get us back to the baseline, and <br />the fuel impacts, the fuel price, and the CAP measures actually take us to about <br />20,000 metric tons further than what we need. He noted that these numbers were <br />revised to above 12,000, which is still well over the target, and part of the reason for this <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, October 17, 2011 Page 29 of 36 <br /> <br />