Mayor Gavin Newsom today announced that he will introduce legislation with Supervisor Eric Mar tomorrow, to help finance new residential and commercial renewable energy projects and energy and water efficiency in San Francisco. The new San Francisco Sustainable Financing Program (SF2) and San Francisco Sustainable Financing Special District allows building owners to access affordable, city-sponsored financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation improvements. Read more

12/14/09 - Watch Mayor Newsom's YouTube video update about the week that was in San Francisco. Topics include: Homeless Connect, MUNI changes, the Transamerica Building going green and a look ahead at what he'll be working on next week.

Watch the YouTube video

12/11/09 – Mayor Gavin Newsom today announced that San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid has achieved the prestigious Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in recognition of energy and environmental upgrades. Additionally, Mayor Newsom’s Green and Existing Building Task Force released recommendations for greening the city’s existing building stock.

“Commercial, industrial, and municipal buildings account for 63 percent of building-sector emissions,” said Mayor Newsom. “In order to make a difference in fighting global climate change we must address San Francisco’s existing buildings. The Transamerica Pyramid is synonymous with San Francisco’s skyline, and it is now an even more fitting emblem for the City, by reflecting our core green values.”

Mayor Newsom convened a task force to recommend how the city, in partnership with the private sector, can accelerate improvements in energy and resource efficiency of existing commercial buildings in San Francisco. The Task Force is comprised of 19 key stakeholders from San Francisco’s building ownership, developer, financial, architectural, engineering, legal, utility, and construction communities. Read more.

12/10/09 – Mayor Gavin Newsom today announced that the San Francisco JOBS NOW program has used federal stimulus funds to put 1,200 San Franciscans back to work, and is seeking an additional 1,300 job participants before the funds expire in September 2010. Additionally, the Mayor outlined the JOBS NOW  marketing campaign launching this month with MUNI and other city partners, as well as his efforts to secure funding from Congress and the White House to extend the JOBS NOW program past September 2010.

“In the midst of the nation’s economic crisis, San Francisco’s JOBS NOW program is finding ways to put people back to work and stimulating our city’s local economic recovery,” said Mayor Newsom. “As President Obama puts the national focus on job creation, lawmakers in Washington need to take notice of one of the stimulus’ success stories here in San Francisco.” Read more

Mayor Newsom announced on behalf of the Bay Area Electric Vehicle (EV) Corridor program that Nissan has decided to make its first all-electric vehicle, the LEAF, available to Bay Area consumers starting next year. The vehicle will be sold in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

“This collaboration stems from Nissan’s recognition of the aggressive work we are doing to make the San Francisco Bay Area the nation’s EV capital,” said Mayor Newsom.

Nissan will be the first major automaker with an all-battery electric car available to consumers, beginning in late 2010, and other EVs and plug-in hybrid cars will be entering the market in the next year or two.

“We are making every effort to have the infrastructure ready when the Nissan LEAF arrives, and we are extremely pleased to have Nissan as a collaborative partner in making that happen,” said Mayor Newsom.

In addition, the car company will work with San Francisco and the region to promote and develop EV charging infrastructure, including development of a streamlined process for customer installation of charging equipment in their homes. The Nissan LEAF will serve as a pilot vehicle for implementing this streamlined process. Read more