Aired 10/27/14 on KPBS Midday Edition.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer's Monthly Update
Guest: Listen online
Kevin Faulconer, City of San Diego mayor
Since his last visit, the mayor unveiled his Climate Action Plan. He said the plan puts San Diego on track to meet state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and sets a 100 percent renewable energy target by 2035 — all while generating jobs in the region.
KPBS calls out Mayor Faulconer on his home's 120% over use of water, and he talks about why they watered-down (no pun intended) the energy efficiency auditing requirement for building sales in the new Climate Action Plan. Reading between the lines, business pressure (i.e. real-estate) forced a concession about energy audits before sale of property within the city.
The requirement to disclose the utility bills for the property is still in the plan, and if it passes as it is, this will be a step toward energy efficiency, but we could have taken a leadership position and created thousands of jobs while greatly reducing energy waste in this city, if we had that Energy Audit requirement. When people make millions of dollars in un-earned equity simply by owning a building for decades, they must use some of those capital-gains to upgrade the energy footprint of that building before putting the burden upon the new buyer.
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