Christina Ragsdale, MA, APR Communications Office Manager Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality...

Partnerships for SustainabilityTwo Case Studies for Communicators

Christina Ragsdale, MA, APRCommunications Office ManagerSacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District

Communications SolutionsCommunications plays a key role in building &

leveraging partnerships (improved outcomes with fewer resources)

District has a long history of entrepreneurial solutions – Incentive programs, Cleaner Air Partnership, etc.

Two NEW examples from SacramentoHome Energy Conservation ProgramFarm to Fork to Fuel

Home Energy ConservationNEED:

- 76,000 substandard homes – high energy use- Low-income households spend 14% of their income on energy vs. 3.5% by other

households

SHARED INTERESTS:- Helping low-income homeowners

(comfort/cost)- Reduction of energy use/GHG emissions

- Neighborhood stabilization

How we came together

Air District wanted to find a way to weatherize large numbers of homes – Reduce energy use/GHG

All parties wanted to address homeowners who would not/could not access programs offered by utilities

Other parties wanted to assist/protect at-risk residents or prevent point-of-sale regulations

Partners:

Sacramento Metropolitan AQMDSacramento Association of REALTORSRebuilding Together SacramentoSacramento Habitat for HumanityUC Davis Department of

Civil & Environmental Engineering

How it works:Habitat developed manual, training programTeams of volunteers install basic energy

efficiency materials in homes – takes about two hours

Homeowners are given instructions in energy-saving

practices

Business Plan & FundraisingConducted focus groups

(customers/supporters)Drafted Business PlanSAR added to original funding to a total of

$100K(= 500 homes)

Outcomes & Next Steps:

As of January 2014, over 200 homes completed

REALTORS doing outreach and fundraising campaign in Spring 2014

District meeting with Sacramento Regional Foundation to present business plan and request funds in 2014

HEC Program received Regional Clean Air Award in May 2013

How you can begin

Reach out in your region – All of our partners are national organizations

We are willing to share our Manual and Plan

Test with potential recipients donors and volunteers

Develop a pilot program, then GROW!

Farm to Fork to Fuel (to Farm!)Air District Goals (shared by others)

Become a center for local fuel production (economy)Reduce VMT to haul waste and import fuel Reduce Methane emissions from food waste decomposing in landfills or compost operationsExpand already healthy market for natural gas fuelDevelop broad public and leadership support and demand for “Farm to Fork to Fuel” concept

Food Waste – The 3rd Largest Carbon Emitter “Food Wastage Footprint” 2013 UN report

estimated that the carbon footprint of wasted food was equivalent to 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year

If it were a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter – after China and the US

Partners

Clean Cities SacramentoClean WorldAtlas Disposal/ReFuelGRAS (Green Restaurants Alliance of

Sacramento)Sacramento Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

(Farm to Fork Festival)

How it works:- Burns so clean it generates carbon credits- Eliminates all GHG emissions from landfill- Replaces 1 million gallons of diesel fuel/year- Significant cost-saving

Awards & Recognition

Succeeded in Farm to Fork Leadership billing the first Festival Week in September 2013 as “The Largest Zero Waste Event in the Country”

Clean World and its partners won the Energy Vision Leadership Award and named the International Bioenergy Project of the Year (Renewable Energy World Power Engineering Awards) November 2013

Clean World received 2013 Governor’s Environmental & Economic Leadership Award (for Atlas Digester)

What’s Next?Already implementing local food waste drop-off’s Farm to Fork to Fuel to Farm will grow in Year 2

Opportunities for youLook for partners who share business goals

and outcomes with youDon’t be afraid to reach outUse data from others as support and benchmarksFunding can be available in unexpected placesReport and celebrate successes

Questions?

Christina Ragsdale, MA, APR916-874-4810cragsdale@airquality.org