Published October 2, 2008
In August of 2008, SustainLane spoke with David Assmann, deputy director of San Francisco’s Environment Department and communications manager, Mark Westlund. The city had just passed an ordinance requiring every employer to offer commuter benefits to employees. Assmann and Westlund told us that one of the major challenges San Francisco faces in the next 50 years is sea level rise. If the ocean rises one meter, Assmann says, the city’s international airport will be under water.
Read the full Q&A below:
SustainLane: How was San Francisco founded, and how did it develop?
ASSMANN: We are a peninsula, surrounded by water on three sides. Sir Francis Drake came by the San Francisco Bay, but what really put San Francisco on the map was the gold rush. That’s when people came to San Francisco .
Originally the whole western half of the city was sand dunes. There were farms in the southern part of the city, and there wasn’t much towards the ocean. A lot of the building happened in the 1870’s and 1880’s, including Golden Gate Park, which, again, was also all sand dunes.
A very significant percent of the city was rebuilt in the early 1900’s. …after the earthquake in 1906. The actual destruction in the earthquake wasn’t the earthquake itself; it was the fires that came afterwards.
There’s still development going on today. Since there’s no room to expand, an expensive city gets more and more expensive, so affordable housing is a challenge here. I reviewed an article for the San Francisco Examiner about affordable housing in general that outlines all the developments planned for the future, and a very significant percentage, in many cases up to 35 percent, is set aside for affordable housing So there are 60,000 plus units that are going to be built [in the Fisher Island development at Hunters Point].
SustainLane: What are some of the city’s geographical limitations when it comes to sustainability?
Ever since the 1800’s, the city has been pretty densely populated, and obviously we have some limitations. We can’t expand, which is both good and bad, from an environmental perspective. The land has been in high demand and there has been pressure. We’ve basically lost our industry and it’s hard, for example, to set up recycling facilities within the city that are going to remanufacture, because there is a limited amount of space.
On the other hand, it enabled us to do things like have pretty dense housing. Sprawl was not an option because we simply don’t have anywhere to sprawl to with ocean on three sides. We have been the same forty seven and a half square miles ever since the city got incorporated
SustainLane: Moving onto specific issues of sustainability—Is San Francisco on track to meet its aggressive solid waste diversion goal of 75% by 2010?
ASSMANN: We are on track for that. Our strategic plan is built around and achieving that by 2010, so we’ve got four years.
Our recycling program is second to none; we are the first major city to have a food waste collection program city wide and we are constantly expanding the list of materials that can be recycled [including rigid plastics and household batteries]. Essentially, the only plastic that you cannot recycle now is two kinds, Styrofoam and fill-plastic.
Now we are focusing on outreach and getting higher participation. We are also going to mandatory recycling, and that’s going to be introduced probably in September. That’s kind of the next step to getting us to [our goal].The big push now is to get buildings like apartments that currently don’t have composting to do recycling too. We did a calculation that if everything that is potentially recyclable is recycled, upwards of 90% could be diverted from the waste stream. I have seen the ordinance make a huge difference a couple of years ago in terms of construction and demolition waste.
Our agreement for our landfill space is about to expire. About 2014 is when we will use up the existing capacity. Typically, what happens with landfill agreements is that the more you dispose, the cheaper it is. We are turning it on its head; if our diversion percentage for a particular year was meant to be 80 percent, then if more than 20 percent goes to landfill, we pay a higher rate on that extra material. That’s another financial incentive to keep things out of the land fill.
We are potentially building in some carbon fees into our landfill agreement. We don’t think anyone has done this before. It mitigates climate impacts (which is something nobody thinks of in terms of landfill agreements) by incentivizing landfill diversion. We follow the waste hierarchy, look at toxics, look at environmental and other impacts on host communities—not just on our community, but wherever our materials go—we look at labor issues
SustainLane: Any word on recycling at the baseball stadium?
ASSMANN: Yes, there is now recycling going on at the ball park; in fact there is compost collection as well; it’s not just recyclables, it is also food waste. This began in the last year or so. It was a big source of waste obviously. We worked on banning Styrofoam, and we have hundreds of volunteers called “Styro-busters” to go out and check restaurants to make sure that they aren’t using styrofoam.
WESTLUND: They have done more than 3000 restaurants and we are finding about 80% compliance.
ASSMANN: So there is that and the bag ban that went into effect first in the super markets and then for drug store chains. We are also working on it from the perspective of trying to reduce litter. We’ve had meetings with representatives of fast food outlets in the city to talk about further litter reduction. We looked at having businesses put out containers that the public, and not just patrons of the establishment, can use.
SustainLane: What is San Francisco doing in terms of green buildings?
WESTLUND: We’ll require LEED Gold by 2012.
ASSMANN: We certainly feel we have the most comprehensive green building ordinance that anyone has passed anywhere in terms of its stepping up to LEED Gold and green points for both residential and commercial buildings.
WESTLUND: The thing with that is we made a task force out of builders, bankers, contractors and architects because we didn’t want to have that sector saying, ”No you can’t possibly do this!” We got buy-in from people at one of the biggest [contracting companies], Webcor. The Mayor said, “Ok tell me how to get the most green buildings as soon as we can [in a way]that’s going to work with you?” And they came up with this rather aggressive three to four year plan.
SustainLane: What kinds of things is San Francisco doing to increase its use of renewable energy?
ASSMANN: There is the solar rebate program, which pays out $3,000 to $6,000 rebates for solar installations for residents. There is also an additional rebate that you get if you use a local company whose employees were trained through the EPA grant program.
We have a grant system that set up the solar installation training program, and we ran a whole bunch of students through that. And of course the idea is to give them sustainable employment. So that’s the way to green jobs. There is added benefit for using companies like that employ people from the neighborhood who were trained through that program.
We have a very aggressive energy efficiency program. Our first program worked with 4,000 small businesses to retrofit their lighting. It is called ”Power Savers.” Now we have a program called ”Energy Watch,” and it’s funded through public bridge charges actually, funding to work with and is now expanded into the residential sectors.
WESTLUND: We are currently conducting a wave power pilot project. We have a device, which I think is 7 miles off shore, that’s measuring wave potential and it is out in the water right now.
SustainLane: What’s going on with the “Solar Mapping” project?
ASSMANN: You go to this website, put in any city address, and it tells you the solar potential of your roof. It's interactive and it has these calculators, so you can figure out what kind of system and how long the pay back period is, I don’t know if that’s been set up anywhere else; it’s really a good tool for residents, for businesses, for land owners, anyone who [is considering solar for his/her building]. We’re expanding it to show wind energy potential as well.
SustainLane: Tell us about your plans to have hybrid taxis in the city.
ASSMANN: There are 1,400 taxis in the fleet, and the goal is to have 100% conversion by 2011, which would beat New York ’s 2012 goal by a year.
The other thing that we are doing that is kind of somewhat related is that we are working on the local carbon fund and one of the projects for that is to have a bio-diesel pumping station set up that will be fueled by waste cooking oil collected from restaurants.
SustainLane: What is the city doing to increase public transit ridership?
ASSMANN: I think we’ve got a transit system that is virtually second to none in terms of its capability. The whole plan behind the public transportation system is that no one will have to walk more than a block to get to a transit stop; that’s pretty unique and you don’t see that in too many cities.
Transit ridership has gone up significantly in the last year; we can’t take all the credit for that, the increased prices of gas had a major impact, but it’s kind of interesting that more and more people are receptive to ride in public transit.
We have overlapping ways to get around the city; you go to 511.org and you punch in where you want to go, and you usually have three or four different options.
WESTLUND: Our transit system is entirely off [purely petroleum] fuel. It’s either electric or cable powered and our entire diesel bus fleet was converted into B-20 biodiesel as of December. Every city fleet vehicle that runs on diesel is now running on B-20. (B-20 is 20% vegetable oil-based, 80% petroleum-based fuel. -Ed.)
SustainLane: Can you tell me about the planned transit line from Chinatown to North Beach?
ASSMANN: It is one of those projects that is still at least 10 years out. The one thing that did get added in the last year is the “T” line out to the Bayview/Hunters Point. That was a major benefit to public transportation because people in Bayview were isolated in the sense that they had buses, but they didn’t have a faster, dedicated line. Now the N tube goes all the way to the T line.
The Chinatown expansion is the next in that series. Of course, it is a few years old, but having BART out to the airport really helps a lot. That didn’t use to be there—that’s only with in the last five years that’s happened.
SustainLane: Are employers doing anything to increase public transit ridership?
ASSMANN: The board of supervisors just passed an ordinance that the mayor signed, introducing a requirement for every employer with 20 or more employees to offer commuter benefits.
WESTLUND: The company can have its own shuttle system and pick people up. It can pay for monthly passes, or it can offer federal pre-tax commuter benefits.
ASSMANN: Every employer in San Francisco has to offer one of those three things. That’s going to be a tremendous benefit for public transportation. It’s a win-win for both the employees and employers because it’s a tax benefit—the employer gets the deduction as well as the employee. a $45 monthly fast pass cost $27 to the employee and the employer saves a percentage of that as well. That was implemented just last week, and we also now offer and promote the emergency ride home program.
Many people who work in the city don’t want to give up their car, because if they have to go home in emergency they have to be able to get there quickly. So basically the emergency ride home program offers free taxi rides to those people who need to go home in an emergency with grant funding for that.
We offer that as a program to not just the city employees but to private companies as well. People can take public transportation secure in the knowledge that if they have to for some reason get home quickly, we offer that. We are actively working on promoting commuter benefits to people who live outside the city and work in the city.
SustainLane: The city has so many incentives to increase public transportation ridership; are there any dis-incentives for people commuting in their cars?
WESTLUND: We’re in the planning stages to have the congestion pricing that is now in the districts around Geary and around the Golden Gate Bridge. There will potentially be variable pricing on parking in order to get people on to public transit during the heavier parts of the day, and we are looking at putting new, computerized meters through out the town which will also be able to implement variable price parking.
SustainLane: Is the idea that increases in ridership will stick, even if gas prices go down?
ASSMANN: Yes, because once people change their habits, they tend to stick with them. Even though gas prices might fluctuate, they’re never going to go down to where they were a year ago, never. At some point, the price is going to up even more steeply.
Setting up the Peak Oil Task Force to look beyond petroleum was important for us, and that’s not getting as much attention as it should. Climate change is beginning to be more on the public agenda, but Peak Oil is certainly not there yet.
We need to prepare for that, and obviously climate change has huge implications for the city. The primary one, of course, being that a lot of our land is built on. It is filled. If our sea levels go up by a meter, we don’t have an airport any more. It will be under water. You will have to raise the whole airport up, it’s not like you can put dikes. In the airport something has to be built up, otherwise it’s not going to function anymore.
SustainLane: How likely do you think that is?
ASSMANN: It’s almost inevitable, unless we make some really major changes. Over the last six months the predictions have been getting worse and worse. The polar ice cap is going to be gone within five years, and there will be no ice cover in the summer any more.
Once the Antarctic ice cap—where most of the frozen water is—really starts to dissolve, we’ll see catastrophic sea level rise. Even if we reversed everything we are doing now, we still need to adapt to climate change because there is already a significant amount of it happening. It is just a question of how much we can avert, but we [now know that we] can’t avert all of it.
SustainLane: Have you measured the effect of sea level rise in San Francisco?
ASSMANN: It’s measured in inches, but it’s still happening already.
We have certainly seen modeling of all the areas that would be under water—that would have to be kept from being under water as levels start to rise. Adaptation to meet climate is just not about averting, it’s also about adaptation.
SustainLane: Which parts of the city are most vulnerable?
ASSMANN: Downtown actually, southeast, Hunters Point area, Islais Creek area, Fisherman’s Wharf, and most of our eastern water front. The ocean side won’t be affected as badly. Downtown is very close to the water. Just look at the ferry building – look at how close the water is to the surface there.
SustainLane: What do you see as San Francisco ’s largest contributions to global urban sustainability, either economically or with policy?
WESTLUND: In terms of environmental contribution, I think we lead by example. We have passed groundbreaking legislation here. We do things that others wouldn’t have thought of before. Just as an example: the whole issue of banning the use of plastic bags. Nobody had done that in US before we did, and now it’s spreading across the country.
We have a state law [regarding plastic bags] that is now being considered. Without our ban, there would not be a law that’s going through legislature right now, which would require a fee on all disposable bags. The initiatives that we started here have major impacts on state and federal legislation. We were, I think, the first major urban area to have a food [scrap] collection program. Now there are dozens.
Leading by example in programs and legislation go hand in hand.
SustainLane: Why do you think that San Francisco leads in environmental programs?
ASSMANN: Well, I think we have a very supportive population and political structure. It’s very mainstream. Everyone supports environmental initiatives here. It’s a very hospitable climate. We have competitions basically among our political leaders for who can be the most green. It’s not considered a partisan issue here.
A lot of environmental leaders have come out of San Francisco over the decades. The Sierra Club started here. I think . . . it just snowballed. It is no exaggeration to say that there are thousands of non-profits in San Francisco and many of them are environmental or have environmental components .
SustainLane: What will be the most challenging things for San Francisco in the next 50 years?
ASSMANN: The two really big challenges are climate change and Peak Oil. The concept of “peaking” doesn’t just apply to oil anymore. It’s also reaching other materials that you wouldn’t think of as being rare. We are going to go into Peak Natural Gas at some point. There are a lot of minerals that are becoming scarce. There actually now is the first commercial mining of landfills. Materials are getting so scarce that people are going to landfills to grind them out.
Already, we are starting to see vandalism because of the increases in commodity prices. People are going after copper because it’s gotten so valuable. It’s very important to use material more efficiently and to move away from disposables.
SustainLane: Peak Oil and climate change are global issues. Do you expect those realities to hit harder in San Francisco than elsewhere?
ASSMANN: It is a global challenge that affects us. We do see our selves as environmental leaders in addressing that, but we think everybody has to address that. It’s going to hit us just as hard as it hits everybody else.
Climate change is something we are potentially more vulnerable to because we are on the water, and we are going to see some immediate impacts moreso than some other jurisdictions. Any coastal area is going to be more impacted by climate than an interior area, but these are all things that affect everyone.
We consider ourselves leaders, and we need to work on those areas. We also think that if we plan for it, then we can be more self-sufficient and be able to deal with some of these things better than others. If we plan for climate change, if we plan for efficiency, and if we push for solutions—that will help us as well. We are not in it alone, everybody is there.
Resources:
- San Francisco Solar Map
- San Francisco GreaseCycle
- SF Department of the Environment
- San Francisco Green Business reviewed at SustainLane
- Who's Hiring? See: San Francisco Green Jobs
- Terms defined at Wikipedia: Climate Change, Peak Oil, Biodiesel, Sustainability
Photo Caption: David Assmann, Deputy Director, and Mark Westlund, Communications Manager, SF Department of the Environment. (Photos Courtesy of SF Environment.) Chanan Tigay and Kenneth Ott reported for this story, Jordana Gustafson contributed.
