SLO County Air Pollution Control District
Spring 2020 e-Newsletter
|
|
SLO County APCD Office Update
|
|
As everyone across the country responds to the COVID-19 public health emergency, our office has made some adjustments to keep our staff and the public safe. We are limiting person-to-person contact and are closed to walk-in customers. Although our doors may be closed, we are still here to serve the public with our mission to protect the public from air pollution during this challenging time.
For normal business we encourage you to contact us by phone (805-781-5912) or email. In addition, in-person appointments can be requested by emailing
info@slocleanair.org
.
If you need assistance with the following topics, please use the designated email addresses:
If you are delivering a package or mail to our office, please call 805-781-5912.
|
|
50th Anniversary of the SLO County APCD
|
|
This year, SLO County APCD is celebrating 50 years of protecting public health and air quality here in San Luis Obispo County! The 1970 Clean Air Act authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and the environment. From that, 35 local air pollution control districts were formed in California to support the community by addressing air pollution at the local level. Since then, the SLO County APCD has continued to implement industry and land use emission reduction strategies, grant programs, air quality monitoring while keeping the public updated and aware of the air quality in SLO County! To highlight air quality achievements over the last 50 years, we will share some interesting and fun factoids throughout 2020 - stories from staff, permitted businesses and grantees as well as air quality trends and accomplishments we have made - stay tuned!
|
|
Big Welcome to New Employee, David Cardiel!
|
|
The SLO County APCD is very excited to introduce our newest team member, David Cardiel!
As an Air Quality Specialist in the Monitoring Division, David is responsible for inspecting and maintaining the air monitoring network to ensure the data collected is valid and accurate. This important task allows the incoming air pollution measurements to be displayed timely to inform the public of potential air quality impacts.
David Cardiel grew up in Camarillo, CA and later attended high school in Templeton. After he graduated from high school, his love of being up in the air took him to college in Florida where he earned his commercial pilots license as well as his Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) certificate – talk about seeing blue skies from a different perspective. He has lived on both the East and West Coast, but his short time in Templeton had him hooked on the Central Coast and always wanted to return. Before coming to SLO County APCD, David worked at an environmental firm where he did air quality emissions testing and for the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in Bakersfield. In fact, some of our staff got to know David because he was the CARB staff in charge of maintaining the air quality monitoring stations in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. David comes to the APCD with tons of hands-on experience in monitoring and over 10 years in the environmental field.
In his free time, David enjoys fishing (both saltwater and freshwater), hiking, camping and mountain biking.
Fun Fact: David and his wife own a farm in Paso Robles with chickens, horses, turkeys, sheep, dogs and a cat!
Welcome to the team, David!
|
|
Spring into Savings When Working From Home
|
As many have stayed home and reduced our commutes, air quality benefits around the globe are being observed and the number of times we head to the gas pump has significantly decreased too. Saving money feels good but saving money AND the environment feels even better! When we transition back to a more traditional way of life when the pandemic eases, we can all consider making small changes that can help us save money, resources and help improve air quality. Here are some possible changes to consider!
- Teleworking – when our weather warms, ozone levels can also increase. Working with your employer to add some days of teleworking into your schedule has been shown to reduce air pollution, as well as helps you save gas money and wear and tear on your vehicle. As some of us have experienced during this time, these are just some of the benefits that come from working from home!
- Cold? Put on some extra layers to avoid having to turn up that thermostat. Hoodies, robes and fuzzy socks can be some of your favorite teleworking friends.
- Convert to LEDs! LED lights use less energy while produces the same or even more light.
- Air dry your clothes instead of using the dryer. Dryers can use a lot of energy whereas hanging your clothes outside uses the sun’s energy!
- Use colder water instead of hot water when washing clothes. This reduces the amount of energy to make the water hot and many detergents work well on the cold temperature setting.
- Make it a practice to turn off lights if they are not being used.
- Warm? Use ceiling fans to decrease the summer temperature in your home. By moving the air around your home with ceiling fans, it will feel cooler.
- Use a power strip for powering electronics you operate together and turn off the strip when they are not in use. Equipment that is turned off but plugged into live power can still use power, so using a strip to turn off your equipment when not in use saves energy and money.
- Minimize buying water in single use plastic water bottles. Use the tap water or filtered tap water at home to reduce plastic demand and save money!
|
|
ZEV Infrastructure Implementation Grant
|
|
The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (ARFVT) authorizes the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop and deploy alternative and renewable fuel strategies to help attain the state’s climate change goals. Two of those goals are to have 5 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the road in California by 2030 and 250,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2025.
Over the last two years, SLO County APCD staff have managed a ZEV planning grant that was awarded to our region by the CEC. The grant funded the development of a Zero Emission Vehicle Readiness Implementation Plan (Plan) for the Tri-Counties region of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The goal of this Plan was to evaluate and implement best approaches to accelerate regional ZEV adoption and infrastructure installation. The Plan includes the approach, outcome, challenges, lessons learned, and next steps for seven tasks that were completed to help expand ZEV use in our region.
One task was to identify key zones in our region where expanding EV charging infrastructure made the most sense and included additional priority for sites in disadvantaged and low-income areas. The important zones were identified using travel patterns from anonymous mobile device data and other demographic information. Maps that show the results of this analysis can be found at this
link
under the section titled, Strategic EV Infrastructure Siting Analysis.
Another task in the Plan was to contact major heavy-duty fleets in the region to discuss the opportunities and benefits of electric trucks, buses and light-duty vehicles and to provide some of these fleets specific training and transition plans. To help raise ZEV awareness within the communities in our region, the Plan also established an ombudsman to lead outreach efforts including ZEV ride and drive events, workshops, and webinars throughout the region. The ombudsman also oversaw the development of multi-lingual outreach materials and a web resource for the public, business and government called
Electric Drive 805
.
Finally, work in the Plan provided 18 EV charger site assessments for local businesses in the region, educated first responders in the case of fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEVs) accidents and evaluated potential locations for installing hydrogen fueling stations in the region. The full report can be found by
clicking here
.
|
|
Always better to walk instead of drive when you can!
|
|
With so many parents and kiddos doing homeschool for now - if you are looking for some fun science lesson plans & activities related to air quality -we've got you!
|
|
#SLOCounty APCD Engineering and Compliance Manager, Dora Drexler, recognized Mark Elliott for his 30 years of dedicated service with the NESHAP Task Force!
|
|
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AIR POLLUTION CONTROL DISTRICT
3433 ROBERTO CT, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA 93401
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
