Shane Levy, Sierra Club - shane.levy@sierraclub.org, 201-679-9507
GOLETA, Calif. - Today, Goleta, California became the 51st city in the country to commit to transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy.
The Goleta City Council unanimously approved a resolution to adopt a goal of 100 percent renewable electricity for all municipal facilities and community-wide electricity supply by 2030. Additionally, at least 50 percent of electricity use by municipal facilities must come from renewable sources by 2025. With its adoption of this resolution, Goleta joins Santa Barbara and Monterey as the third city on California’s Central Coast that has committed to transitioning to 100 percent clean, renewable energy.
"Im proud that Goleta just adopted a 100% renewable energy goal by 2030. This effort is an important and strategic first step to securing more, reliable, safe, and economic energy vital to our community's long term prosperity and welfare.” said Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte.
Earlier this year, Mayor Perotte joined the Climate Mayors organization (Mayors National Climate Action Agenda), pledging to work together with other U.S. mayors to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Today’s resolution is a major step towards achieving the City’s emission reduction goals set forth in Goleta’s Climate Action Plan.
In addition to establishing the 100 percent clean energy goal, the City of Goleta also authorized participating in a solicitation by Southern California Edison which will call for “energy efficiency, demand response, renewables, and energy storage, which will be deployed during times in which high energy consumption strains the distribution system.” The city also authorized investigating the feasibility of a city-wide Community Choice Energy program that could encourage more local renewable generation.
“Targets such as these assert the California Central Coast’s environmental leadership and send a message to state and federal agencies that our region embraces the rapid transition to renewable energy that we have seen over the last decade. These goals are forward-thinking and have the potential to set a model for other communities.” said Sigrid Wright, CEO/Executive Director of the Community Environmental Council
"We salute Goleta for their leadership on 100 percent clean energy,” said Katie Davis, Chair of the Sierra Club’s Santa Barbara Group. “To meet our international climate goals, we must transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Moving to 100 percent renewable energy isn’t just the right thing to do for our climate, it’s the smart thing to do for our local economy. Renewable energy costs have decreased dramatically and are now cost competitive with fossil fuels, and Santa Barbara County already has eight times more jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency than in the oil industry. The transition to 100 percent clean energy is represents a better and more prosperous path forward for our community.”
Goleta joins several other cities across California to champion a clean energy future. Last week, Truckee became the 50th city in the country to commit to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Goleta’s commitment signals the growing support amongst local communities to power a cleaner, healthier future for all.
###
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.