SUBJECT:     FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE COOL ROOFS AGREEMENT WITH PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY

 

COUNCIL DISTRICT:  City-Wide

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

Approval of a first amendment to the Cool Roofs Agreement with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, extending the date of termination by one (1) month, from March 1, 2002 to March 31, 2002, and expanding the geographic territory of the program from the City of San Jose to all of Santa Clara County, at no cost to the City.city

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company released a request for proposal to use Public Goods Funds for the establishment of a program to encourage the upgrade to energy efficient “cool roofs” in commercial and multi-family residential buildings.

 

In December of 2000, the City of San Jose was notified of its eligibility for funding for the Cool Roofs project.  Subsequently, in February of 2001, Council approved an Agreement between the City and Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the amount of $621,000 for the period between February 20, 2001 through March 1, 2002.

 

ANALYSIS

 

The City has established a Cool Roof incentive program that provides incentives to commercial and multi-family residential building owners in San Jose who install Cool Roofs.   The City would like to extend this contract in length and geographic area in order to facilitate the use of all of the incentive funds. 

 

Of the total $621,000 contract amount, $480,000 is available for incentives. The remaining funds are to be used for program management including staff salary, supplies and other program expenses.  The City has currently allocated approximately $60,000 of the incentive funds for Cool Roof installations on 11 buildings in San Jose.  This equals approximately 83 peak demand kW’s saved.  The City worked with the roofing industry to help determine the initial funding levels.  However, at this time it is clear that the City will not be able to utilize all of the incentive funds in San Jose alone. 

 

ESD has done a significant amount of outreach to promote this program.  Approximately 230 interested parties from architects and roofing contractors to facility engineers and building owners have attended Cool Roof workshops.  As a result, over 50 roofers in the San Jose area are certified to participate in the program.  In addition, these training sessions have been publicized via advertisements in the Mercury News, and through invitations to the San Jose Green Building program contact list, the Building Owners and Managers Association, the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Association, and the Association of Facility Engineers.  ESD is also working with General Services to determine which City facilities are good candidates for Cool Roofs and thus may be able to take advantage of this funding.  However, because all roof work must be complete by December 15, there are a limited number of facilities that will be able to participate. 

 

Additionally, several roofing contractors have expressed that because of the slowing economy less money is being spent by the private sector on non-critical capital upgrades.  By extending this contract, and by serving all of Santa Clara County, the City will be able to provide the remaining incentive funds to many more customers, thus increasing peak demand energy savings throughout Santa Clara County.

 

PUBLIC OUTREACH

 

ESD has given four Cool Roof Training Sessions to approximately 230 interested parties.  These sessions have been publicized through the Mercury News and several building industry membership lists.  In addition, there is a Cool Roof site on the ESD web page that provides information about the program, how to apply for an incentive, and links to related public web sites.

 

COORDINATION

 

This memorandum has been coordinated with the Budget Office and City Attorney’s Office.

 

COST IMPLICATIONS

 

This is a no-cost contract extension request. 

 

 

CARl W. Mosher

Director, Environmental Services Department