Profile

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the fourteenth most populous city in the United States. San Francisco was the first city in the US to pass a resolution acknowledging the threat posed by finite global oil supplies.
[ Task Force Website ]

• Population: 744,041 (2006 census)
• Government form: Consolidated City-County, mayor/Board of Supervisors

Timeline

• 11 April 2006: First US city to pass a resolution recognizing the issue of peak oil.
• 3 May 2007: Authorized a peak oil task force.
• 2 January 2008: Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force began meeting, to continue until October with a report released in December 2008.

Articles and resources on Post Carbon Cities

Resource: Resolution	Acknowledging the challenge of Peak Oil and the need to prepare a plan of response and preparation Approved 11 April 2006 by San Francisco Board of Supervisors This resolution acknowledges the challenge of Peak Oil and the need for San Francisco to prepare a plan of response and preparation.
Article	The green line: It's Chicago to San Francisco Published 18 March 2007 by Chicago Tribune San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, whose city has typically been recognized for its environmental leadership, recently visited Chicago to observe the pioneering work of Mayor Daley in implementing green building principles and gather new ideas.
	San Francisco: Eco-tough code proposed for buildings Published 11 July 2007 by San Francisco Chronicle Many local governments require publicly funded buildings to follow some environmental guidelines. But San Francisco's proposed building standards --which would be the most environmentally rigorous in the country-- would also affect private developers and commercial projects.
	Blacking out San Francisco to raise awareness Published 19 October 2007 by The Christian Science Monitor California has been a pioneer in energy efficiency, particularly with its stringent building standards. Californians now use less energy per capita than residents of any other state. But a desire to do more is growing, both among businesses facing rising energy costs and policymakers responding to public concerns about global warming. The creators of an event scheduled for October 20, called Lights Out San Francisco, hope that it will show that small, individual efforts to reduce energy consumption can be collectively powerful and bring people together.
	Energy-efficiency goals adopted by California panel Published 5 December 2007 by San Francisco Chronicle California should make all new homes so energy-efficient by 2020 that they won't need to draw power from the state's electrical grid, according to a plan for meeting the state's future energy needs. The plan is designed both to lower the state's energy use and to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels. The plan calls for applying the same standard to commercial buildings by 2030.
	Sustainable building not just a fad Published by The San Francisco Chronicle The impressively green plans for San Francisco's planned new Public Utilities Commission building aren't just an example of the city showing the way and showcasing environmentally responsible technologies and techniques. They're also a sign of a building trend that's not just a fad; green building will remain an important theme in today's architecture because it's a response to a changing world.
	Running on empty (peak oil in San Francisco) Published 30 January 2008 by San Francisco Bay Guardian "You have to be careful with peak oil that you don't immediately leap to 'We're all doomed and our economy is doomed,'" says San Francisco Peak Oil Task Force Chairperson Jeanne Rosenmeier. "I think there is an intermediate phase, which is what we are being asked to address: the transition from business as usual." San Francisco was the first city to pass a resolution recognizing the problem of peak oil; its task force is hard at work putting together a plan to deal with that problem.
	Can San Francisco feed itself from local farms? Published 3 April 2008 by American Farmland Trust Like other American cities, San Francisco residents rely on distant sources of food that travel an average of 1,500 miles to get to their tables. But the city is surrounded by unique agricultural lands, with a mild Mediterranean climate capable of producing nearly every kind of food enjoyed in the Bay Area. The American Farmland Trust's San Francisco Foodshed Study is looking into whether San Francisco residents could feed themselves exclusively from sustainable farms located within 100 miles of the Golden Gate Bridge. The project will result in a strategy to maximize the potential for the city to feed itself locally, while protecting the farmland critical to the San Francisco foodshed.

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