Wells Fargo Contributes $80,000 to GRID Alternatives

Supports Green Affordable Housing, Renewable Energy and Job Training

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 11, 2008 — Wells Fargo & Company contributed $80,000 to GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit that installs solar electricity systems for low-income homeowners, to expand its Solar Affordable Housing Program and build a model that can be replicated nationwide. The non-profit has installed over 200 solar electric systems for low-income homeowners that will generate $3.3 million in clean renewable power and reduce of greenhouse gas emissions by 10,000 tons a year.

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The California Solar Initiative

A Decade of Support for Solar

The California Solar Initiative is part of the Go Solar California campaign and builds on 10 years of state solar rebates offered to customers in California’s investor-owned utility territories: Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E.) The California Solar Initiative is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Since 1998, rebates for small solar energy systems were managed under the Emerging Renewables Program (ERP) at the California Energy Commission. In 2001, a second program that covered rebates for larger systems–over 30 kW–was assigned to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) through the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).

In August 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger affirmed his support for solar energy, and announced the Million Solar Roofs program.

In January 2006, the CPUC collaborated with the Energy Commission to develop the framework of the California Solar Initiative Program through 2016.

In January 2007, the State of California launched Go Solar California, which included two new solar incentive programs, with slightly modified program requirements compared to the older programs. The Energy Commission provides incentives to energy efficient new home construction under the New Solar Homes Partnership. All other facilities in investor-owned utility territories receive rebates from the CPUC-administered program, the California Solar Initiative.

The new framework also included a major shift in the way solar incentives were calculated - away from a system that funded solar incentives based only on nameplate capacity and towards one where incentive levels are based on performance factors such as installation angle, tilt, and location. This performance framework ensures that California is generating clean solar energy and rewarding systems that can provide maximum solar generation.

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California Honors 2008 Enviroment & Economic Leadership Winners

California this week honored 21 companies and organizations with the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards, the state’s highest prize for contributions to environmental issues.

The Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993. Recipients are selected by a large panel of evaluators and the Secretaries of Cal/EPA, the Resources Agency, Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, the State and Consumer Services Agency, and the Governor’s Office. It honors projects in nine categories.

Here are the 2008 award winners in each category with comments from the California EPA:

Climate Change

• University of California, Irvine - Sustainable Transportation Program
  Irvine’s Sustainable Transportation Program seeks to change the commuting culture by raising awareness of environmental impacts and encouraging the use of green alternatives. The program uses incentives, infrastructure improvements, policies and educational outreach to develop a culture of environmentally conscious commuters, whose lifestyle changes help preserve the natural beauty and quality of life in California. This comprehensive program eliminates over 39 million vehicle miles traveled, 18,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and saves the University more than $21 million each year.

• Dixon Ridge Farms - Energy Self-Sufficiency by 2012
  The goal of Dixon Ridge Farms’ energy self-sufficiency plan is to eliminate all types of outside energy use by 2012, while also being carbon and nitrous-oxide negative from using nonfood sources for energy and maintaining its strategic and sustainable growth. The farm pioneered Biologically Integrated Orchard Systems to reduce pesticide and fertilizer usage in walnut production, re-circulate irrigation water runoff and embrace alternative sources of energy. In 2007, Dixon Ridge set an ambitious 5-year goal for energy self-sufficiency and became the first on-farm user of a 50kW co-generator that converts walnut shells into renewable energy. To date, this is the farm’s largest step in moving “off the grid” and “off the pipeline” as this new, green technology will supply 40% of the farm’s overall electricity needs.

• Marin Sanitary Service - Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  A family-run business, Marin Sanitary Service has pioneered state-of-the-art recycling methods,
  technologies, and programs resulting in a 75% recycling rate. They also recycle more than 547 tons of waste water per day - saving the equivalent of 2 million trees and 900 million gallons of water. Since 1990, the company has recycled over 2.2 million tons of waste, representing a reduction of almost 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Marin Sanitary Service has created new recycling technologies, and effectively worked with residents and businesses to create partnerships and education programs to further reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Children’s Environmental Education

• Golden Gate Audubon Society - Eco-Oakland and Eco-Richmond Environmental Education Programs
  The Golden Gate Audubon Society’s Eco Programs offer year-round environmental education to elementary school students and their families. Begun in 1999, the programs serve over 10,000 students and community members in the Bay Area.

• Contra Costa Water District - Water Education Program
  The Contra Costa Water District’s Water Education Program is a comprehensive water-related program for students in grades 2-12. It targets students in over 100 service-area schools with a wide-ranging water-related environmental science program. During the 2007-08 school year, the program’s classroom presentations, field trips, and school assemblies reached more than 30,000 students and teachers in Central and East Contra Costa County.

• Orange County Department of Education - Inside the Outdoors
  The Orange County Department of Education’s Inside the Outdoors program was established in 1974 to empower students, teachers, parents and the community to explore their natural world, while expanding their knowledge and understanding of science and the wonders of nature. Each year, more than 125,000 students experience hands-on environmental education through one of Inside the Outdoor’s three programs. Inside the Outdoors also has a public program with offerings such as a sustainable cooking classes, fire ecology sessions, eco-friendly fashion shows, art sculpture, full-moon hikes and summer nature day camps.

Sustainable Practices or Facilities

• Ferry Building - Green Initiatives
  The San Francisco Ferry Building, a historical icon originally opened in 1898 and
  restored in 2003, is a unique and exemplary project because of its resourceful conservation efforts,
  public food marketplace, green initiatives and environmentally friendly commuter benefits. The Ferry Building’s green practices include the procurement of an industrial size compost dumpster for retail food scraps; yearly green office and restaurant supply open houses; recycling tips and recognitions via office/tenant e-mail newsletters; setting printers to only copy doublesided; switching from bottled water to filtered tap water for meetings; trash audits reported to individual tenants and groups; and, public transportation education. It’s most measurable environmental benefit is its aggressive recycling and waste management program, which results in a 64% diversion rate for its more than 50 offices and shops, 800 employees, and 10,000-20,000 shoppers per day.

• Kunde Family Estate - Innovation Sustainability
  The multi-generational ownership of Kunde Family Estate is committed to the creation of wines that are unique to their land while farmed with an ethical and sustainable pedigree. Kunde is committed to continuing its journey through generations to sustainable stewardship of the estate. “Because all great wine should be GREEN,” Kunde uses sustainable, organic and biodynamic farming practices.
  Kunde’s sustainable winegrowing is a balance of economic, environmental, and social practices.

• Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center
  Lauded as “a model health, wellness and youth development center,” Alameda County’s Juvenile Justice Center is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold-rated green building of its kind in the country. The United States Green Building Council awarded the project 43 out of 45 points submitted towards its certification, including perfect scores in the categories of energy and atmosphere, and innovation and design process. Exceptional levels of efficiency include the use of a water-efficient irrigation technology which reduces site water consumption by more than 50% and saves over 5 million gallons of water annually; waterless urinals and water-efficient plumbing fixtures which reduced water consumption by 41% and save more than 2 million gallons of water annually; an 850 kW rooftop solar panel to provide over 60% of the building’s energy demands; purchasing 100% of the building energy needs from wind generation; and recycling 93% of construction waste.

• Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company - Green Insurance for Commercial Buildings and Homeowners
  Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company developed specialized coverage for green buildings to spur
  sustainable development in California and the nation. In order to offer financial incentives to building green, Fireman’s Fund became the first insurance company to offer green insurance for commercial buildings. The first green insurance product offered owners a 5% discount in their insurance premiums if their building was certified green. They expanded their green coverage to policyholders who upgraded to green during reconstruction - effectively endorsing the use of nontoxic, low odor paints and carpeting, water efficient plumbing, energy saving interior lighting, Energy Star roof and insulation materials, and included extra costs to recycle construction debris.

• Bank of America - Commitment to a Greener California
  Bank of America, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, has a legacy of environmental leadership dating back two decades, when it began implementing an environmental focus to its own operations and business practices. Bank of America created its $20 billion, 10-year environmental initiative to encourage the “development of environmentally friendly sustainable business practices through lending, investing, philanthropy, and the creation of new products and services.” Recent examples include lending to a nonprofit to acquire 50,000 acres of redwood forest (the first time 100% private capital has been used to preserve timberland); investing in solar power and other renewable energy efforts at schools, municipalities, and businesses; offering new products such as the Brighter Planet credit card that enables reward points to be invested in renewable energy projects; and, using new energy-saving lighting and HVAC technologies in its retail banking centers to reduce energy consumption. Bank of America does not finance projects that would destroy primary moist tropical rainforest, certain endangered forests, or companies involved in illegal logging. The company reduced paper usage per associate by 40% and set aggressive, voluntary goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the company by 9% through the reduction of its energy consumption. And Bank of America reimburses its associates $3,000 when they buy a hybrid car, a benefit that began as a pilot program in Southern California.

Ecosystem and Watershed Stewardship

• San Mateo County - Pharmaceutical Disposal Program
  The main goals of the San Mateo County Pharmaceutical Disposal Program are to help avoid unintended use, reduce or prevent recreational pharmaceutical use, and to help stop the continuing contamination of the environment. The program, which partners with the San Mateo County Police and Sheriffs Association, offers the public a convenient, viable and environmentally friendly alternative to flushing medicines into the wastewater stream or placing them in municipal landfills. This simple yet innovative program has diverted nearly three tons of medicines from San Mateo’s solid waste and wastewater streams, and prevented their unintended use by children and seniors.

• Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour
  The Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour was created to educate Alameda and Contra Costa County residents about native plants and their contribution to water conservation, the natural habitat, and the reduction of pesticide use. Contra Costa Water Conservation Supervisor Chris Dundon called it “an excellent, educational program that provides residents with the opportunity to see beautiful, water conserving gardens firsthand and to have their questions about natural gardening techniques answered by knowledgeable and enthusiastic homeowners and volunteers.” The more than 50,000 garden visits that have been made have inspired registrants to make changes to their own gardens. The environmental goals of the tour are to reduce pesticide, water, and fertilizer use, as well as the amount of green waste entering landfills.

Environmental and Economic Partnerships

• Valley Clean Air Now - Tune In and Tune Up Program
  Valley Clean Air Now is a nonprofit advocacy group committed to improving air quality in communities throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Valley Clean Air Now administers the Tune In and Tune Up program in collaboration with the Bureau of Automotive Repair and the Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Initiative Center at Fresno City College. Since 2003, more than 2,500 Valley residents in 11 cities have participated. A typical Tune In and Tune Up event removes approximately 3,000 tons of carbon monoxide, 300 tons of hydrocarbons and 150 tons of oxides of nitrogen from the air in one year.

• GRID Alternatives - The Solar Affordable Housing Program
  The mission of GRID Alternatives is to empower communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency services, equipment and training. In partnership with the San Francisco Department of the Environment, the housing departments of El Monte, Huntington Park, Oakland, Richmond and San Mateo County, and numerous Habitat for Humanity chapters, GRID Alternatives has been bringing energy efficiency to low-income neighborhoods since 2001. Each solar system installed results in an average savings of $10,000 in avoided energy costs over a system’s lifetime.

• Cayucos Land Conservancy
  The mission of the Cayucos Land Conservancy is to preserve the character of Cayucos, a small rural beach town in San Luis Obispo County, by protecting the open space around it and providing passive recreational opportunities for its residents and visitors. A private alternative to land perservation by public agency, it has been called “a model for reducing state costs and providing stewardship of public lands” by Assembly Member Sam Blakeslee.

Comprehensive Land Use Planning

• Codding Enterprises - Sonoma Mountain Village
  The goal of the community is to build a sustainable neighborhood of 5,000 people which strengthens the community and restores the environment. The 200-acre community of 1,900 homes is being created as a deeply sustainable, mixed-use village that will utilize the deepest green technology as well as the latest new urbanism and smart growth planning tools. The heart of the village - the Town Square - will serve as a community gathering place and support a 5-minute lifestyle with the majority of homes within a 5-minute walk of the Town Square. Through use of new and existing new conservation measures, the community is being designed to beat California’s current energy code by at least 50%, have energy needs met with on-site renewable power, and reduce solid waste to reach a goal of 98% reduction.

Technological and Market Innovation

• Marrone Organic Innovations, Inc. - GreenMatchTMEX
  GreenMatchTMEX is an effective, cost-efficient, nonselective herbicide with no safety or environmental issues. It is designed to replace weed control techniques that are environmentally damaging and can pose health risks. The product is an organic herbicide based on lemongrass oil and shown to provide broad-spectrum weed control for four weeks. It contains only plant extracts and surfactants that are on an approved list of food-grade ingredients, making it exempt from EPA requirements for registration for use in both crop and noncrop areas. It also meets the requirements of the National Organic Program rule for use in organic crop production. In sensitive noncrop areas such as parks, public landscapes, and schools, GreenMatchTMEX provides effective weed control with no environmental risks.

• Rent-a-Green Box
  Rent-a-Green Box is the “first comprehensive, zero waste, packing and moving system in America.” Founded in 2006, it converts trash mined from local landfills into a suite of sustainable packing and moving products. The company’s Recopack (Recycled Ecological Packing Solution) is a replacement for cardboard boxes. Rent-a-Green Box recycles plastic trash from landfills to make 100% recycled and reusable packing and moving boxes. Recopacks are rented on a weekly basis to households and businesses.The company delivers each order in their green fleet of delivery trucks. The green trucks are powered by biofuel and waste vegetable oil and reduce emissions by 78% when compared to typical diesel delivery trucks. Recopack boxes can be used over 400 times before wearing out, when they are reground into other Recopacks. The company uses its pallets made from over 700 used, cleaned and sanitized diapers to transport Recopacks. It created Recocubes and Expandos to replace Styrofoam packing peanuts, foam sheets, and bubble wrap. Recocubes are made from recycled newspaper sludge and can be tossed into the garden for decomposition. Expandos are created from 100% recycled food and cereal boxes and are recycled into more Expandos after 100 uses. Each Recopack is projected to save over 12 trees in its lifetime, simulates source reduction, and detoxes and reduces landfill expansion.

Sustainable Communities

• Treasure Island Development Authority - Treasure Island Redevelopment Project
  The Treasure Island Redevelopment Project consists of 450 acres on Treasure and Yerba Linda Islands, and is a joint effort between the Treasure Island Development Authority and Treasure Island Community Development, LLC, the competitively selected private master development partner. Highlights of the project include clustered development around a transit hub which will allow two-thirds of the land to be preserved for parks and open space; green infrastructure initiatives to enable the development plan to achieve gold certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Neighborhood Development Program; partnerships with local energy providers to allow the island to generate solar and wind energy; the creation of a intermodal transit hub for bus and ferry services to complement a transportation program which prioritizes walking and biking and includes innovative transportation demand management programs such as resident transit passes, parking policies, and congestion management pricing; affordable housing and housing for the homeless; the creation of over 5,000 temporary construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs; and, the creation of a Treasure Island Job Corps to provide vocational training to 600, 16-24 year-olds.

Enhanced Environmental and Economic Leadership

• Fetzer Vineyards - E3 Sustainability Initiatives
  The company was the first winery in California to be completely sustainable. Lauded as a “leader and maverick in the field,” by House Representative Mike Thompson, Fetzer continues to be a pioneer in the implementation of sustainable practices for production and marketing of grapes and wine. Building on its successes, Fetzer has developed significant environmental initiatives including the use of a renewable energy system that is currently the largest in the wine industry, the mitigation of carbon emissions and climate change, improved energy efficiency innovations, organic wine grape and wine production, resource conservation, waste reduction and earth-friendly bottle use. Fetzer refers to its team’s passionate commitment to making continual sustainability improvements as E3-the “triple bottom-line” of equity, environment, and economics.

KVUE - Green Right Now

GRID Alternatives wins Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award

Last night GRID Alternatives was honored by Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Environmental Protection Agency at the 2008 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards in Sacramento.

The annual Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award Program is administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency and Resources Agency, in partnership with the Department of Food and Agriculture, Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and the State and Consumer Services Agency. This is the State of California’s highest and most prestigious environmental honor.

The program recognizes individuals, organizations, and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made notable contributions in conserving California’s precious resources, protecting and enhancing our environment, and building public-private partnerships.

GRID Alternatives