Gavin Newsom, the charismatic Mayor of San Francisco, is pushing through an initiative to build Small Wind generators in the City. Small Wind generators are small turbines used locally by homes and businesses, often located on their own rooves.

“An opportunity exists for the City and County of San Francisco to foster continued economic growth and provide environmental leadership by incorporating sustainable energy generation for City buildings and encouraging the development of clean energy sources in the private sector,” say the Mayor’s website.

A recently convened Wind Taskforce, co-convened by Supervisor Tom Ammiano, will assist in the identification of policies and programs to further these types of opportunities.

Wind and other renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies would go toward helping the City meet the renewable energy, energy efficiency, and CO2 reduction targets set in the Energy Resource Plan and Climate Action Plan.

The Mayor’s initiative hinges on two policy changes:-

• The Department of Building Inspection and Planning Department shall expedite permitting and minimize costs for the installation of residential, commercial and municipal wind generation turbines in the City; and
• All City Departments shall make every effort to advance wind power generation by incorporating wind turbines into the design of existing and new City facilities whenever and wherever possible.