S.A. goes green
Web Posted: 04/20/2007 02:22 AM CDT
Bridget Smith
KENS 5 Eyewitness News
Within the next 10 days, San Antonio will be “going green.”
“This is about being transformational leaders and not just being folks who are maintaining what we have,” City Councilman Roland Gutierrez said.
On Thursday, the City Council said, “Yes,” to making the city environmentally conscious with the effort beginning in downtown.
“This is certainly part of our emphasis that we've been pushing on clean energy, clean air,” Gutierrez said. “The idea is that when we're building new buildings, we're looking at solar energy issues, we're looking at water harvesting issues.”
Once in effect, the ordinance calls for any new municipal or office building constructed in the downtown area to be environmentally friendly.
“It's going to require us to maybe spend a little more money and materials on the front end, but a heck of a lot on the energy piece on the back end,” Gutierrez said.
Last week, the city added 19 hybrid vehicles to their fleet of 60 hybrids.
“We're looking at efficiency from a fuel standpoint to an air quality standpoint,” said Rose Ryan, with the city’s Environmental Services department.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met....27e18c82.html