A final report by Hermosa Beach city’s two-year Green Task Force urges further policies encouraging bicycling, walking, carpooling, public transportation, energy-efficient construction and use of renewable energy by residents, businesses and the municipal government.
The report pushes for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, but task force chair Philip Friedl told the Hermosa Beach City Council that the report encourages improvements in lifestyle as well as the environment.
“I’ve never heard anybody say they were excited about driving to their job in Universal City on the 405 and then slogging back home,” Friedl said during a discussion of the report’s transportation portion.
Hermosa Beach City Council members said they might call upon task force members to help monitor the progress of the report’s recommendations, although the panel’s service has ended.
The state’s Global Warming Solutions Act mandates that emissions statewide be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. The City of Hermosa Beach already has developed measures to increase energy efficiency in municipal buildings, buy fuel-efficient vehicles and expand recycling, and the City Council has approved a Hermosa-wide water conservation ordinance.
“The City of Hermosa Beach is on the path to creating a sustainable community through its actions to conserve energy and resources at the municipal operation and community levels,” the task force report states. “The next step will be to set targets and create a plan of actions to further reduce both the municipal and community-wide carbon footprint.”
Emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide caused by Hermosa’s government and its community, actually dropped 3 percent between 2005 and 2007, according to a rough inventory compiled with the help of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments.
But the task force warned that the emissions, which scientists say trap heat in the atmosphere, will increase in coming years unless steps are taken to prevent that. Friedl said the Council of Governments believes that the earlier decrease was caused in part by a sluggish economy that limited auto travel.
Other factors cited in the report included increased use of renewable energy, more trash going to waste-to-energy facilities, and more efficient utility operations. (Although utilities do not produce energy within Hermosa, the study included emissions from energy produced elsewhere and used in the city.)
“While short-term trends show a 3 percent reduction in emissions, long-term general trends in the absence of mitigation efforts suggest an increase in emissions,” the report states. “It is anticipated that Hermosa Beach’s community emissions, under a business-as-usual scenario, will grow 2 percent by 2020.”
In 2005 and 2007, the largest portion of the emissions tied to Hermosans came from driving vehicles that burn gas and diesel.
Task force recommendations include taking steps to encourage bicycling, “creating streetscapes and environments” that encourage walking, promoting walking to and from schools, promoting public transportation through education and perhaps a local shuttle, and encouraging carpooling.
The task force also recommends the creation of a sweeping “climate action plan” outlining how the city would meet carbon reduction goals.
The task force report states that the City of Hermosa Beach has “been in the forefront” of environmental stewardship.
Hermosa was one of the first cities in Los Angeles Countyto pledge to become carbon neutral, and was the first area city to sign onto the “Cool Cities” pledge to reduce emissions of atmosphere-warming gases. The city irrigates 75 percent of its road medians and parks, including the Greenbelt, with recycled water.
