Press Room

Greening Arvin Public Celebration

ARVIN, September 10, 2009 – On September 9th, in partnership with the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy (SJVCEO), the City of Arvin showcased the recently piloted Greening Arvin initiative. The Greening Arvin public celebration took place at Bear Mountain Pizza in Arvin, 393 Bear Mountain Blvd., from 10am until noon on Tuesday, September 9. City of Arvin officials chose Bear Mountain Pizza to host this event since this Arvin small business is part of a clean energy small business demonstration project to install energy efficient technologies complimented by an onsite solar energy array.

This demonstration project is part of a broader, comprehensive effort called Greening Arvin, sponsored by the City, led by the SJVCEO, and funded by the Valley CAN organization. The primary objective of the Greening Arvin effort is to demonstrate – through serving as a model for the City and the broader San Joaquin Valley – the role that clean energy can play to improve quality of life and address the region’s air quality and climate challenges. In addition to the clean energy showcase at Bear Mountain Pizza, Greening Arvin efforts also include working with 10 other Arvin businesses to assess and provide recommendations on “greening” their daily operations in order to achieve energy and cost savings for these businesses, and exercising an expedited solar permitting process to allow same-day over-the-counter solar system permitting. Greening Arvin team members also provided consulting to city staff to identify climate and energy policy best practices, codes and standards to foster continued greening efforts within Arvin’s municipal, commercial and residential sectors.

• Replacement of all exterior windows with higher efficiency “low-E” models
• Replacement of exterior doors with higher efficiency “low-E” storefront doors
• Replacement of all incandescent light bulbs with CFL bulbs by the Kern Energy Watch Partnership
• Removal of back entrance to strengthen building envelope and reduce draft by incorporating wall insulation
• Upgrade to more energy efficient Light-Emitting Diode (LED) indoor linear light tubes
• Installation of an onsite 3 kilowatt solar power system

The lighting upgrade at Bear Mountain Pizza coincides with the same energy efficient technology upgrade that is currently taking place across many Arvin municipal facilities. The 3 kW solar electric system utilizes a new and more efficient technology called microinverters that are built into the solar panels, as oppose to the more traditional central DC-to-AC inverter installed independent of the solar array. Annually, the combined energy upgrades are expected to reduce the pizzeria’s electricity use by approximately 12%, saving over $1,100 in utility bills and avoiding an estimated 3.2 tons of greenhouse gas emissions (the gases that cause global warming) from being released into the air.

City of Arvin Development Associate, Mike Kunz, heads the Greening Arvin initiative for the city. According to Mike, “Through this Greening Arvin effort, we are addressing more than our City’s air quality and climate protection challenges. We are offering specific avenues for our City’s businesses and residents to access clean energy options that will offer them cost savings for the long-term. On behalf of the City, I’d like to thank Valley CAN and SJVCEO for helping us to continue to ‘green’ our Arvin community.”

Paul Johnson, the SJVCEO’s Executive Director, states “Greening Arvin is a great example of the types of clean energy activities that small cities in the San Joaquin Valley can undertake during these tough and challenging times. I would like to congratulate the City for the leadership it is showing in this area.”

The San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization (SJVCEO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the eight county region of the San Joaquin Valley significantly increase its use and reliance on clean energy (that is, energy efficient and renewable energy sources). The mission of the SJVCEO is to build upon existing efforts and serve as a trusted resource on clean energy for San Joaquin Valley businesses, consumers, nonprofits and local governments. The SJVCEO accomplishes this by providing regional clean energy planning; information and expertise on current clean energy programs and resources; an independent source of clean energy programs and resources; an independent source of clean energy advocacy and education; and technical support to develop and implement clean energy projects. For more information about the SVJCEO, visit http://www.sjvcleanenergy.org/ or contact the SJVCEO Executive Director, Paul Johnson at Paul@sjvcleanenergy.org, (206) 819-6664.

Valley CAN (Clean Air Now) is a non-profit organization committed to improving air quality in communities throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley. As a part of its purpose, Valley CAN will: serve as a leader in educating the public in the need to take personal responsibility for the reduction of air pollution; promote voluntary actions to reduce air pollution by individuals, government, agriculture, business and industry; seek to initiate and publicize creative new approaches to reduce air pollution; and sponsor pilot programs and educational efforts dedicated to providing solutions to high emissions sources. For more information on Valley Clean Air Now please visit www.valley-can.org .

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