Sustainable Belvedere

Background 

Sustainability is a vital issue to our community and it is woven throughout the 2030 Belvedere General Plan. The City’s goal is to protect the natural environment and promote sustainable land use patterns while preserving quality neighborhoods and accommodating new development. The City’s guiding vision on this topic is to “Be a Leader in Sustainable Development and Promote a Culture of Environmental Stewardship.”

Climate Action Plan

The Climate Action Plan 2030 
Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the year 2019

A Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a tool that any organization can use to develop the programs and actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), which are the pollutants that cause climate change, and other negative impacts to the environment. Generally, these CAPs are focused on this ‘mitigation’ aspect of climate change, but some also lay out a strategy for ‘adaptation’, or how the organization will plan to deal with the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, or increased flooding, heat waves, and wildfires. Belvedere’s CAP is primarily focused on mitigation measures, but in addition it sets out a proposed adaptation plan for improvement of levees that house critical infrastructure, ingress and egress routes for the entire City while protecting houses located in the flood plain.

Golden Gate Bridge

How Can I Get Involved?

In addition to reducing emissions at the municipal level, Belvedere collaborates with other local governments at the county level and encourages citizens to take their own initiative. A great place to start is by signing up for Deep Green Renewable Energy program. More information can be found in the following section.

Household-Level

  • Deep Green Renewable Energy: Belvedere residents automatically receive ‘Light Green’ energy from Marin Clean Energy, which means 50% of your energy comes from renewable sources like water, wind, and sunlight. For an additional $0.01 per kilowatt-hour, you can upgrade to 100% renewable energy. For the average residential customers, the total additional cost for Deep Green is $2 more per month than PG&E's 33% renewable service.
Deep Green Banner
  • Local Solar: 100% new solar power from a local solar farm located in MCE's service area.
  • Resilient Neighborhoods Initiative: You can save money on utility bills and qualify for thousands of dollars in rebates from Energy Upgrade California, strengthen relationships with your neighbors, build a more sustainable local economy, be better prepared in an emergency, and help solve global environmental problems. It's fun, it's easy, and it's a great way to build community.
  • Go Solar: Install a solar energy system and you could reduce your electricity emissions by up to 85%. Check out the solar potential map to get started.
  • Go on a Carbon Diet: Use our online carbon calculator to find out how you stack up.

Community-Level

  • Renewable Energy: City facilities purchase all-renewable energy from Marin Clean Energy. Community Choice Aggregation programs such as MCE allow cities and counties to offer their citizens and businesses a choice when purchasing electricity other than the current utility (PG&E). MCE also supports local green jobs and new local renewable energy generation.
  • Electrical Vehicles: 4 ChargePoint charging stations for EVs are available in the parking lot at City Hall. The charging stations are open for public use.
  • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing: City facilities use paper made with 30% post-consumer content. Paper made with recycled content avoids habitat impacts, produces significantly less air and water pollution and uses less energy than paper made entirely from wood fibers.
Electric BMW
  • Commuter Benefits: City employees have access to a federally approved program that allows them to take pre-tax deductions to pay for transit and vanpool expenses. Employees save on their taxes and pre-tax deductions for transit are a great way to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home.
  • Water Efficiency Landscaping Ordinance (WELO): New and rehabilitated landscape areas requiring City approval may be subject to the requirements of WELO as mandated by the California Department of Water Resources
  • Compost and Recycling Service for Multi-Family Dwellings: Passed by the State Legislature in 2011, AB 341 expands compost and recycling to the underserved apartment and business sectors.
  • Construction and Demolition: The vast majority of construction, demolition, and/or renovation projects are required to submit waste management plans to be approved by the City. Final permit approval is contingent on compliance with the plan.

County & Regional Level

  • Marin Climate & Energy Partnership: MCEP is a group of representatives from all Marin municipalities, Marin County, the Marin Municipal Water District and the Transportation Authority of Marin in collaboration with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Marin Energy Management Team, and Joint Venture Marin.
  • Plan Bay Area: Plan Bay Area is the region’s long-range plan for sustainable land use, transportation and housing. The plan has been adopted jointly by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The 2040 guidelines will require each of the states 18 metropolitan planning organizations to develop a Sustainable Communities Stategy as part of their long-range Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).??The final 2040 plan is now available online.
  • County of Marin Community Development Agency (CDA):The CDA joins together what is commonly known as Planning, Building, and Environmental Health. We work together to protect Marin County’s natural and built environment, and the public’s health and safety with a shared mission of sustainability.
  • Zero Waste Marin: Step up to a whole new level of earth-friendly living. Zero waste is a big idea with one goal-that the entire concept of waste should be eliminated. Sign up online to take the challenge.
  • BayWAVE: BayWAVE is bringing the cities and towns of Marin county through the evaluation of the extent of impact on communities due to sea level rise. The program is assessing the sensitivity and adaptability of selected assets and working with the local governments to plan implementation of adaptation strategies.
  • Ride of Drive Clean - More than half of our community emissions come from driving gas cars. It’s time to get out of our gas cars. Walk, bike, take public transportation, and if you need a car, pledge to make your next vehicle electric … an EV or an e-bike to replace drives in gas cars. There’s no sacrifice when you go electric. You can save money, time, and improve your driving experience with an EV. Learn how to EV with nonprofit, ride or drive clean.  Ride or Drive is currently offering webinars and community meetings to share the latest information and answer your questions. Read Ride or Drive's final report on Marin Jurisdictions Campaign Summary.

Marin Clean Energy Belvedere was instrumental in forming Marin Clean Energy (MCE), a local public agency and not-for-profit electricity service provider. MCE procures renewable energy and partners with PG&E to deliver electricity.

Community Choice Aggregation programs such as MCE allow cities and counties to offer their citizens and businesses a choice when purchasing electricity other than the current utility (PG&E). MCE also supports local Green jobs and new local renewable energy generation with projects such as: 972 kWh of solar at the San Rafael Airport, 1 MW of solar at a Carport Shade in Novato, and 500 kW of solar at the Novato Cooley Quarry.

Your Energy Choices

  • Light Green: Most households in Marin are already enrolled with MCE's Light Green 50% renewable energy product now (just look for "MCE Generation" on your PG&E bill).
  • Deep Green: 100% non-polluting, renewable energy. The additional cost of Deep Green is just a penny more per kilowatt-hour than Light Green rates.
  • Local Sol: 100% new solar power from a local solar farm located in MCE's service area.
  • Opt-out: receive power from PG&E.

Contact MCE

Phone: 888-632-3674
Email MCE Clean Energy
MCE Website

Helpful Links

Marin Hay Field