Grand Jury Report Says San Luis Obispo County Behind in Efforts to Conserve Energy

A San Luis Obispo County grand jury report released this week says the county is currently behind in its efforts to conserve energy at its facilities.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires all cities and counties to develop specific plans to reduce energy consumption.

In response to this, San Luis Obispo County crafted its Energy Wise Plan in 2011.

Included in the plan was a promise to reduce energy consumption by 15% in county facilities by 2020.

The grand jury report states that the county has struggled to meet these goals.

The report also finds an energy manager position has been vacant for three years and the county lacks the adequate software to monitor the consumption at its approximately 200 facilities.

Assistant County Administrative Officer Guy Savage says that the county has delegated these roles.

"We hired a contractor because we were unable to successfully hire a county employee to do the same work," Savage said.  "Basically when we opened up the recruitment, we struggled to find qualified candidates. So after a couple attempts at that we decided that we can't continue to have a vacancy, so let's hire a contractor who can do this."

The report recommends the county make funding available for increased staff and implement technology to track its energy usage on a regular basis.

Savage says while the report is accurate to date, he is confident in the county's ability to meet the reduction goals it has set.

"They can't really begin to speculate on what we might do next, and we're really in a position to begin working on some of those projects that will begin reducing greenhouse gasses here," Savage said.  "And again, a couple of them I think will get started later this year."

San Luis Obispo County has almost six years to reduce energy consumption and remain in compliance with both county and state regulations.

Both the county board of supervisors and the county administrator are required to officially respond to the grand jury report.

June 25, 2015

KCBX FM

By KCBX News Staff and Spencer Marley