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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMaterials Distributed at MeetingSTATE OF CALIFORNIA — NATURAL RESOURCES AGENCY CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor 1516 NINTH STREET ! SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 -5512 1� 0' C) www.energy.ca.gov �m November 9, 2010 Lisa Flores City of Arcadia 240 W. Huntington Drive Arcadia, CA 91007 Dear Ms. Flores: RECEIVED NOV 15 2010 Planning Services City of Arcadia The California Energy Commission has received the City of Arcadia's Draft EIR titled Arcadia General Plan Update, SCH 2009081034 that was submitted on 7/19/2010 for comments due by 9/1/2010. After careful review, the California Energy Commission has no comment at this time and would like to share the following only as a resource of information. The Energy Commission would like to assist in reducing the energy usage involved in your project. Please refer to the enclosed Appendix F of the California Environmental Quality Act for how to achieve energy conservation. In addition, the Energy Commission's Energy Aware Planning Guide is also available as a tool to assist in your land use planning and other future projects. For further information on how to utilize this guide, please visit www.eneray ca gov /energv aware ouide/index.html. Thank you for providing he 9 us opportunity to review the City of Arcadia's Draft EIR. We hope that the above mentioned resources will serve helpful in your project's environmental review process. If you have any further questions, please call Gigi Tien at (916) 651 -0566. Sincerely, Enclosure L 6th �-- BILL PFAN Supervisor, Local Energy & Land Use Assistance Unit Special Projects Office Fuels and Transportation Division California Energy Commission 1516 Ninth Street, MS 23 Sacramento, CA 95814 CEQA: California Environmental Quality Act Appendix F ENERGY CONSERVATION 1. Introduction The goal of conserving energy implies the wise and effi- cient use of energy. The means of achieving this goal include: (1) decreasing overall per capita energy consumption, (2) decreasing reliance on natural gas and oil, and (3) increasing reliance on renewable energy sources. In order to assure that energy implications are considered in project decisions, the California Environmental Quality Act requires that EIRs include a discussion of the potential energy impacts of proposed projects, with particular emphasis on avoiding or reducing inefficient, wasteful and unnecessary consumption of energy. Energy conservation implies that a project's cost effective- ness be reviewed not only in dollars, but also in terms of energy requirements. For many projects, lifetime costs may be deter- mined more by energy efficiency than by initial dollar costs. II. EIR Contents Potentially significant energy implications of a project should be considered in an EIR. The following list of energy impact possibilities and potential conservation measures is designed to assist in the preparation of an EIR. In many instances, specific items may not apply or additional items may be needed. A. Project Description may include the following items: 1. Energy consuming equipment and processes which will be used during construction, operation, and /or removal of the project. If appropriate, this discussion should consider the energy intensiveness of materials and equipment required for the project. 2. Total energy requirements of the project by fuel type and end use. 3. Energy conservation equipment and design features. 4. Initial and life - cycle energy costs or supplies. 5. Total estimated daily trips to be generated by the project and the additional energy consumed per trip by mode. B. Environmental Setting may include existing energy sup- plies and energy use patterns in the region and locality. C. Environmental Impacts may include: 1. The project's energy requirements and its energy use efficiencies by amount and fuel type for each stage of the project's life cycle including construction, opera- 154 • APPENDICES tion, maintenance and/or removal. If appropriate, the energy intensiveness of materials may be discussed. 2. The effects of the project on local and regional energy supplies and on requirements for additional capacity. 3. The effects of the project on peak and base period demands for electricity and other forms of energy. 4. The degree to which the project complies with existing energy standards. 5. The effects of the project on energy resources. 6. The project's projected transportation energy use re- quirements and its overall use of efficient transportation alternatives. D. Mitigation Measures may include: 1. Potential measures to reduce wasteful, inefficient and unnecessary consumption of energy during construc- tion, operation, maintenance and /or removal. The dis- cussion should explain why certain measures were incorporated in the project and why other measures were dismissed. 2. The potential of siting, orientation, and design to mini- mize energy consumption, including transportation energy. 3. The potential for reducing peak energy demand. 4. Alternate fuels (particularly renewable ones) or energy systems. 5. Energy conservation which could result from recycling efforts. E. Alternatives should be compared in terms of overall energy consumption and in terms of reducing wasteful, inefficient and unnecessary consumption of energy. F. Unavoidable Adverse Effects may include wasteful, inef- ficient and unnecessary consumption of energy during the project construction, operation, maintenance and/or re- moval that cannot be feasibly mitigated. G. Irreversible Commitment of Resources may include a discussion of how the project preempts future energy development or future energy conservation. H. Short-Term Gains versus Long -Term Impacts can be com- pared by calculating the energy costs over the lifetime of the project. I. Growth Inducing Effects may include the estimated energy consumption of growth induced by the project. J