Dear Mayor Newsom: We appreciate the emphasis you have placed on making San Francisco a "green" city.  We are writing to propose the use of a technology which would drastically reduce the amount of electricity consumed by computers and related electronic equipment in city offices. Normally computers (and most electronic equipment) consume only 55 to 65 percent of the energy drawn from the power grid.  The remaining 35 to 45 percent is wasted.  This energy is converted to higher order harmonics which do no useful work.  The amount of this loss is known as power factor, and is corrected by the technology Read This Post »

Here are two actions we should (but won't) take: 1) Increase gas tax by 100%, 200%, 500% or more. 2) make the tax money available for schools and law enforcement as well as transportation. This will accomplish four goals: 1) raise revenue for underfunded state needs, 2) penalize people who are "over-autoed" - that is, a single person who owns/drives a huge SUV or 4WD when they could get by just fine with a small gas efficient car, 3) increase usage of mass transit to reduce need for more highways, 4) encourage/force auto manufacturers to increase efficiency through innovation. It Read This Post »

Not a solution but just a happy comment. My daughter Emma (12 years old) posted an idea on taxi cab and how we should have Hybrids in the city. Well she has seen some of them around and is very happy about it as she thinks that it was her idea and that she did make a difference. Thank you. Tell that to Ivan whatever. Elise Hyndman Read This Post »

Please take a look to our website:   www.oilspillrecovery.com   We have an incredible product that helps to clean up the oil spill and recover the oil.   Thanks Mario Read This Post »

TO speed up service/reduce congestion  - provide free MUNI service during weekdays/offpeak hours (9:00A - 3:00 PM to encourage non-commuters to travel outside commute hours. J A Bickers Read This Post »

Do this every month!  It's such a fantastic idea!  Thanks for being such a great Mayor.  Cristi Read This Post »

Instead of charging a toll on some of the busier downtown streets, make carpooling (2 or more) mandatory. There are thousands of single person cars driving downtown,and you mean to tell me none of them are going to the same place,or at least walking distance of each other? This should, in theory cut downtown traffic by 50%. a substantial fine should be enforced. John David Read This Post »

When I look outside of my window, I see 1000's of square feet of empty roofs.  Why don't building owners put plants on their roofs?  It would clean the air, look better, and help the greenhouse effect by absorbing absorbing light.  Would you find a way to require building owners to do this?  Encourage it?  Maybe get the legal troubles with Citi Apartments dropped if they green all of their roofs?  Secondly, is there a way to encourage buildings to shut off the lights at night.  All I see is waste when so many lights are on in the Financial Read This Post »

Excellent idea to ban them. Here's another idea, ban the paper ones too. The Dutch don't give out bags of any kind. If you forget to bring your own grocery bags, then you have to buy a big, reusable one for around 5 Euros. Smart. It gets people in the habit of reusing. It is one more step towards not being a "throw-away" culture. Thanks for reading. Michelle Read This Post »

Last night while I was watching the evening news, I was made aware of the congestion problems your city is having. Then few ideas came up in my mind that could lighten up the load. My first idea, How about a new type of public transit just for the most congested areas of your city? My idea was based from the city of Hong Kong; they have a type of public transit which is like a mini bus, which services every part of the city. These mini bus benefits over buses because they are Read This Post »

What with all the push to use 'green' fluorescent lighting, has anyone addressed the disposal of the spent lamps?  Since they contain mercury and are dangerous to the environment, I would suggest that an educational poster be required at all sales outlets to instruct the consumer about the proper disposal method. Stan Haskell Read This Post »

Problem:  Not enough city revenues. Solution: Implement a city and commuter tax, akin to NYC. that way, renters and commuters will pay into the city, and the city will have a steady stream of income without having to continually raise fees that adversely affects quality of life (ie. parking fines, filing fees for superior ct, muni fares, etc.). Problem:  Not enough money to implement bike lanes, etc. Solution:  Every bike owner pays registration fee annually. Money garnered will go towards making safer bike lanes. Also, enforce traffic violations of bikes as well with red light cameras. Bikes could be tracked if they Read This Post »

I wanted to give my support for minimizing plastic bottles in the city.  Please check out this article on where plastic ends up. Jennifer Plumb Read This Post »

Dear Mayor Newsom Bravo on your bottled water position.  Attached is an editorial I wrote in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis with a similar message: Reflections on Water. Barbara  Burlingame, PhD Group Leader, Nutrient Requirements and Assessment Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Rome, Italy Read This Post »

Can San Francisco afford gas guzzlers from environmental, health and safety standpoint? Every time I see a big gas guzzling luxury car or an SUV that is violating a traffic law I find myself muttering: what kind of country do I live in? I have never understood why our society rewards the gas guzzlers more than denizens who do everything to reduce global warming.  The price of violating a traffic law is the same irrespective of what car you drive despite the fact that a larger vehicle causes more harm to the immediate society.  Pedestrians and bicyclist are at a greater Read This Post »

Hello Mayor Newsom, I am so glad that you have created this website!  Have wanted to share ideas with you for a while. Just returned from 2 weeks in Europe and was impressed with some of the environmental things they do to conserve energy that would be great for our country and, of course, San Francisco is the city to lead the way... 1.  Have lights for public areas set on motion sensors to conserve energy. This would be great for restaurants, stairwells in apartments, parking garages, bathrooms, office buildings, etc. Why do we need to have the lights on in empty office buildings Read This Post »

Pass it.  Support it.  Become a world leader.  Create a model that other cities might follow. Spare the native Southwest, long torured by coal-fired power, and spare Bayview Hunters Point from the gas turbine peaker plants, and the oil-burning plant sitll out there. And, as the vote approaches, watch this viceo: http://blip.tv/file/133936/ --Ann, San Francisco Read This Post »

We need to get involved in this. Name Withheld Read This Post »

Cars emit most of their pollution when they first accelerate from a stop sign or traffic light.  Once your car is going, very little pollution is being emitted.  If we could time the traffic lights on more of our larger streets, we could significantly reduce our green house gas emissions without having to think about it.  Also, the frustration factor would go way down for people trying to just get across town.  This would reduce speeding to avoid the next light, since you'd have to drive at the required speed to avoid overrunning the next light. And it would reduce Read This Post »

Stop allowing gas hogging SUVs from parking in city ramps in "Compact Only" stalls. They should get a huge ticket. On the plus side that would help our budget - fix the potholes these monster vehicles create. Name Withheld Read This Post »