By Lauren McSherry
 Breene Kerr promoted renewable energy sources at last week’s meeting of the Los Altos Hills Club. |
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s promise of 1 million solar-powered homes in California by 2018 will get a boost from Los Altos Hills if Councilman Breene Kerr succeeds with an ambitious plan that could mean the town’s upscale homes will have to meet energy conservation guidelines in the next five years.
Kerr told members of the Los Altos Hills Club, Feb. 8, that the way to solve California’s energy supply-and-demand problems is at the local level by encouraging communities to conserve and use renewable energy sources, such as solar power. He told the audience that after the 2000 energy crisis, Californians cut their use by 10 percent, but now demand is back to record levels.
Kerr’s conservation plan, Local Energy Savings Solutions (LESS), would require energy efficiency and stricter landscaping regulations for homes. Residents could also be required to install solar power.
Many of the guidelines Kerr is examining stem from his work as a member of the New Town Hall Committee. The 8,000-square-foot town hall is about the size of most Los Altos Hills homes and is meant to set an example in energy and water conservation for the town.
“We’re not going to ask anybody to do something that we haven’t done as a town,” Kerr assured the audience.
The $4.2 million building will not only be energy efficient, it will also produce the energy needed to operate staff offices through a “solar orchard.” In addition, the committee recently abandoned a landscape design that called for a 4,800-square-foot “town green” and opted for a demonstration garden that will showcase water-conserving plants. The new landscape design will save nearly 20,000 gallons of water per month during the hottest months of the year - July, August and September.
These are the types of measures Kerr would like to see residents implement, especially concerning water. In Los Altos Hills, the majority of water used by residents goes towards irrigating expansive lawns and landscaping. The city currently exceeds its water allotment set by the Purissima Hills Water District and that needs to change, he said.
“In our town, we have a unique situation,” he said. “The bottom line is we are 42 percent over our allocation. We’re looking at a 50 percent reduction in a drought. (The solution) is going to be a combination of conservation, looking for new (water) supplies and being aggressive with native plants.”
The city council recently created the Environmental Initiatives Committee to investigate water and energy guidelines, including a solar ordinance for homes larger than 7,000 square feet. The committee is expected to report to the council April 20.
“(Large homes) are putting huge demand on the electrical grid,” Kerr said. “There is a nexus between what we’re asking them to do and their effects on the rest of us. … How many more large homes are we going to build without solar power or savings by design? I don’t think it’s responsible to build large homes without this.”
About a year ago, Kerr initiated the city’s green energy program, which includes replacing stoplights with energy-efficient ones, the purchase of a Ford hybrid sport utility vehicle for city staff and a solar-powered system for the new town hall. In August, Kerr proposed that the city cut its electricity, diesel and gasoline use by 50 percent over a five-year period.
