The Community Environmental Council has been around since 1970, and has led the Santa Barbara region - and at times California and the nation - in creative solutions to some of the toughest environmental problems. We are often referred to as a "think-and-do tank" - deeply analyzing a problem and then applying creative, real-world solutions to it. About five years ago, CEC launched a bold new mission - eliminating the use of fossil fuels in our region in one generation. Today we are singularly focused on this one mission, and are applying to it all that we have learned over the last four decades. Become a member. Make a positive difference.
How CEC is creating a "fossil free" community
Changing public policies
* A CEC-led coalition of architects, builders, and others worked closely with the City of Santa Barbara to draft an ordinance that requires all new and renovated buildings to be more energy efficient, with the goal of being carbon-neutral by 2030. In 2008, the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously passed the ordinance - making Santa Barbara's building energy code one of the most progressive in the nation. We are now working to take similar ordinances to Goleta, Carpinteria and Ventura. Learn more about Architecture 2030.
* We played an integral role in the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last fall to set a goal for all new homes in the state to be "zero net energy" by 2020 and commercial buildings by 2030.
Promoting solar and wind energy
* We helped streamline permittingprocesses with the City and County for solar projects, so that installers can now obtain over-the-counter permits in most situations. Learn more.
* We helped catalyze community support for the first wind farm in Santa Barbara County -- a 100-megawatt project near Lompoc, which was approved by the County Board of Supervisors in February 2009. When finished, this project will generate about 10 percent of the entire electricity needed in our region. Learn more.
* We contracted a study by UC Berkeley, which found that about 290,000 gigawatt hours of electricity could be generated from on-shore and off-shore wind - more than 100 times our current electricity needs. We are now developing processes and tools that will lead to environmentally, economically, and socially sound on-shore wind projects, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Center and more than a dozen environmental groups and government agencies. Learn more.
Getting the word out
* We host, organize and sponsor more than a dozen events each year. Our largest and most successful - CEC's Earth Day Festival - began in 1970, has been consistently running since 1990, and attracts over 10,000 people and 250 exhibitors. Learn more.
* Our personal-action campaign, Get Energized, helps individuals and businesses make lifestyle changes using local resources. To date, more than 1,700 people have taken the Get Energized pledge. If all the pledges are fulfilled, our region would save over $2.1 million and about 10 million kWh - enough to power just over 1,680 homes a year.
Become a member and learn more. www.CECsb.org
*Full disclosure, Elizabeth is a board member.
