>> good afternoon. thank you so much for being here. it is really an honor to work with the department of environment on the san francisco home improvement program. we hope it becomes they hit this program in the city.

we really are here to talk about the financial, as well as the environmental benefits of going green. in san francisco, as well as across the country, what we forget is often our home and the real estate that we own is normally the most valuable piece of wealth that we have in our family. but we also for get that real- estate and buildings also have some of the largest carbon footprint in san francisco, as well as across the country single-family homes are almost 22% of the carbon footprint. in my understanding, we have actually been miscounting the carbon footprint, and we actually undervalued the carbon footprint of real estate in those homes. we're here today to talk about how you can go green with doing some very simple things. some improvement items did you can get a rebate of up to $7,000

just by putting in new water heaters, and doing ventilation, and we have margaret here, who is a homeowner and a contractor, just to tell you really how easy it is. it is so important when we're looking at our home. our home is one of the most valuable things we have to continue to invest in. many of these minor investments will make huge returns on investment and a huge savings down the road. on average -- most of you know that i am a huge solar advocate and i have solar panels on my home. the return on solar is even more than the return on energy efficiency. energy efficiency often times will return your investment in three years. it is so fast and so easy. we're really here to encourage energy improvement. we want you to be part of this. we did in the assessor's office, we have an annual noticed of the

best evaluation that went out to every single property owner in the city and the county. over two hundred thousand letters, and each of them got a brochure. there is a copy of the brochure that we mailed out with this wonderful family here, talking about how you can get $7,000 in rebates just by participating in this, just by going ahead and working with solar city and being a part of this. is it is so important that we take the first step that we can take to become greener in our own lives, because we forget how big an impact just our small little, as on the environment when you add it up with all the people in san francisco. i am honored to be joined by the director of the department. she is going to walk you through the program and talk about the great things they are doing. >> before i talk about the program, i really wanted to thank phil for is leadership on these issues.

he has been a champion for solar in san francisco as well as for energy efficiency. we are excited to have partnered with the assessor's office to get this information to homeowners in san francisco. my name is melanie, the director of the san francisco department of the environment. in an effort to help our city's homeowners afford energy efficiency in their homes, my department has partnered with energy of great california to develop the san francisco home improvement and performance program. this is a program that does offer financial incentives of up to $7,000 for san francisco homeowners, which is an exce looking to do energy efficiency in their homes. as you all know, making home energy improvements will all to save money on electricity bills, as well as gas bills. doing energy efficiency of grades in a home also makes comes more comfortable as well

as more healthy. ultimately, as he said, if you do energy efficiency upgrades in your home, it does increase the value of your home. the first up in terms of participating in the sf hip program is to call one of our specially trained contractors who can come out to do an energy assessment, to basically look at what some of the measures are that you could do in your home to see these types of energy savings. this is an apparent factor in the program, because the more energy that you say, the more money that you can receive, up to $7,000. it is here with the percentage of energy that you can save, connected to the rebate that you can get. some of the projects that contribute to energy efficiency that could be part of your home energy upgrade includes adding insulation, air sealing around windows, walls and crawlspaces, upgrading or installing high

efficiency heating and cooling systems, as well as a grading a water heater or a boiler. i did want to urge homeowners to take a vintage of these savings now. we're offering up to $7,000 in rebates for energy efficiency. after august 21, it will go down by about $1,000, so there really is reasons to participate in the next five weeks. ultimately, by helping homeowners make these upgrades, we're working together with the assessor reporters office to ensure that we can meet our carbon reduction goals here in san francisco. we are working to reduce their carbon emissions in the city by 20% below 1990 levels by the end of next year. that is one of the reasons to put together this program, to aggressively how to do energy efficiency in homes throughout san francisco. ultimately, this program, sf hip is a great example of our commitment to visionary and burn the to programs that help to promote social equity, to

protect human health, and to leave their way towards a sustainable future. we're working very hard -- we have more direct -- very hard to get where we are, but to set our goals, we need to keep pushing the envelopes thef hip -- we need to continue pushing the envelope. sf hip will help us to do that. thank you. >> thank you. my name is margaret wilson. i have been a resident of san francisco for eight years. my husband and i bought a house. we did it with my daughter and her husband, and we share an old victorian with my husband, daughter, son-in-law, and their three children. since we bought the house, we have had a lot of maintenance just to repair damage and stuff. but we have been also very conscientiously trying to do environmental upgrades.

and we had been a solar city customer. we put solar on our house two years ago and were able to do so with almost no out-of-pocket expense. and we have seen, you know, basically not a reduction in our energy bill, but flat on our energy bill, and we know that is from solar. so when i received a flier from solar city that announced the energy audits, i talked to my daughter and we decided that we would go and do that right away. so we replied and a requested the energy audit. we had a team of solar city people come into our house and go through the whole house, through the heating, you know, the windows, the drafting, how

we used heating and stuff like that. and as a result of that audit, they designed a program for us that included ceiling cracks and weather stripping, reducing its draft from a fireplace by putting something in to block the draft. replacing in 1950's vintage heater that i had been told in the past was about 50% effective. they replaced it with a new height efficiency furnace, and in doing that, it also had the asbestos removed from the house. i was delighted to get rid of the asbestos, too. that heating system also allows us to better modulate the temperature in the house because it is a multi-story house. it is very hard to keep both

floors comfortable. but the system that puts in allows us to better modulate the temperature and keep the house comfortable. also, as part of the energy audit, they identified a very hazardous situation we had with an old stove that is leading carbon monoxide. we planned on replacing dead in the future, but we have now budgeted to do an immediate replacement of that stove, so they identified a very hazardous situation, and we now have the opportunity to correct that. so i have been very thrilled with the work that solar city did. they also completed the work in a timely manner. the people were very pleasant but there was absolutely no mess left. i am delighted in the looking forward to our energy savings. so thank you. >> i will just say a few words about how solar city. it is one of the leading full-

service solar energy efficiency and now electrical vehicle charging providers in the united states, and we're delighted to be working with s the environment and energy agreed california, providing homeowners with incentives to make it easier for them to make energy efficiency and upgrades to their home. we have about 2000 energy efficiency customers in the u.s. and 15,000 solar projects completed are underway -- or under way. i think margaret wilson as a prime example of a homeowner who has seen comfort and health benefits, in addition to environmental and monetary savings. d want to tell us about some of the rebates from the program? >> absolutely. in addition to the san francisco home improvement program, there's a program called the energy agreed california program, and it is designed to help all want -- homeowners make energy efficiency improvements to the home and offset the cost. up to four thousand dollars for pg&e utility customers available

for doing things that you might want to do already, adding insulation or reducing traps in your home, replacing the water europe -- water healeheater. not only do you save energy and money and reduce your current footprint, but you'll be much more comfortable in your home. >> grade, thank you. again, in san francisco, we're actually a prime target for this program, because the folks who should consider this program the most are folks who are owning older homes. margaret's home was built in the 1880's. we have a lot of homes built in the 1920's and in 1930's. those homes are prime targets for this program in terms of having a leaky windows and older furnaces and water heaters, all the upgrades we would normally do. in addition to this program, we're also going to be working on a green grade.

we are encouraging residents to homeowners to do a certification process through our office, where they can actually get a certification to show that their house has gone green. obviously, when people sell those homes or or refinancing those homes, we anticipate that green homes will obviously be more valuable, just like energy- efficient homes of the more valuable immediately once those improvements are made. let me stop there and see if you have any questions for any of us. >> when do you begin recording this information? >> i think we're looking at the next few months to do that. >> so they will have to come to the city and that you guys know about the improvements -- collect just like through commercial properties and their certification. we're looking to do something similar for san francisco. >> are other municipalities

already doing this or is this considered the best practice? >> i am not aware of that. >> and not just going to be a best practice. no other questions? ok, thank you very much.

tape 55 >> welcome, this is carl. >> great to meet you. >> great to me you, and i want to thank you for your interest and this is the city's animal shelter. and come in and a lot of people come here to adopt a animal or if they have lost their animal or looking for other animals. and we deal with other animals like birds and rabbits and you name it. this is more to see in this facility and more to see in the community. and i suggest you go with an animal control person and see what they co, whether rescuing animals in distress or hit by a car or dealing with aggressive

animals or wildlife or a variety of things. you can only get that flavor with them and doing it first hand. >> i have been with animal control for about six years, i spent a year in the kennel and then the office came up and i started doing it and it really fit. it's really the job for me. and animals i have to handle and i know what i am doing, i rarely get scared. [whistle]. we do a lot of investigations and most are not as bad as people report but everyone once in a while they are. and i had one and people had moved out and the dog was in the inside and it makes me teary

and when the dog is in the backyard, and i can pull an animal out of a horrible environment and feel good. >> where does this animal go after this? >> they go for the shots and then the kennel. >> and if they just found this, and once we enter everything in the computer and they can track to find out if the dog went back home. we hold them for five days. >> this is a stray dog and it came in today and we immobilize it and then put it in a room with food and water. >> and then evaluate for medical behavior and see if anyone is interested in

adopting then. >> we want to be sure that their behavior is good for the average adopter and not aggression problem, toward people or animals. >> and if they growl and don't bite the hand, she passes that. and good girl, in case she has something in her mouth, we get it out. and one more test, called the startle test and it startled hear but she came to me. and passed the handling test. >> for the mental exam i feel for lumps and bumps. and the ears and see if they are infected and look at the eyes and be sure they are clear

and don't have cataracts and look at their teeth and heart. this is the first job that i feel i make a dvrngs. -- difference. and we may do 40 to 80 animals a day for treatments. and do blood work and skin scrapings and cultures to diagnose different diseases. and x-rays, i can take an animal that would be euthanized at a different shelter and fix it and get it ready for a home. >> we have a partnership and we let a professional groomer run a private business from our facility and in turn grooms our shelter animals. what is the big deal of that? when someone comes to adopt an

animal, if it looks good, chances are it will be adopted more. >> and we groom and clean the ears and the works. >> typically a shelter wouldn't have grooming? >> not at all. and these dogs are treated with the utmot -- utmost care that others can't provide. this is a shampoo to bring out the luster. and i feel satisfied in helping the shelter pets be adopted and to be a part of such a wonderful staff, from the top all the way down. if she passes our evaluation, she will stay until she's adopted. if you are interested in adoption and don't want to put them to sleep, that means at a

last resort, we will give you a call before putting to sleep. you are not bound to the dog, and we would give you a call, and it's an actual adoption and cost $107 and it will be your dog. >> the volunteers to meet are the unsung heroes in this field that take the animals to hope and nurse them to get strong enough to come down and rehome. without volunteers, i would have to be honest to say this wouldn't be much more than a pound. we thank god that we have the number of committed people coming down and helping us out, it makes all the difference in the world. >> when you want to come in and volunteer, you go through a

general orientation, about two hours. there is a lot of flexibility. and the various programs available, are baseline dog walking. you can work with the cats. you can work with tony's kitty rescue, with the small animals and guinea pigs and birds and chickens. >> you always have an appreciative audience. >> do you feel that what you have learned here helped you with your own dogs? >> the training they don't have? yes. and it's things that you learn, we usually outlive our dogs and every time you get a new one, you have skills to teach them. >> one of the programs is training program and it's staffed by a member of the

community and one of the programs she has is dog socialization. >> we started this program for canine socialization. and all the dogs available for adoption get to play for two hours. and it's a time for them to get incredible exercise and play with other dogs and we have remedial socialization. and it's incredible the dogs and they get exercise and run and tumble and when most adopters come to look in the afternoon, they are quiet and settled. >> and i want come and someone sees a dog and loves it, it's quick. and after three weekends, i saw him and he connected and i

connected and came back. >> what is your experience of working with the animals? >> unbelievable. from the guy that is came to the house and everyone here, they are friendly and knowledge believe and -- knowledgeable and they care about the animals. >> and it's a great place to visit and look at the animals and maybe fall in love and take one home. and look at our grooming program and volunteer program and many say, hey, this