Goleta has become the 51st city in the country to commit to transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy.

The Goleta City Council this week unanimously approved a resolution to adopt a goal of 100 percent renewable electricity for all municipal facilities and community-wide electricity supply by 2030.

Additionally, at least 50 percent of electricity use by municipal facilities must come from renewable sources by 2025.

With its adoption of this resolution, Goleta joins Santa Barbara and Monterey as the third city on the Central Coast that has committed to transitioning to 100 percent clean, renewable energy.

“I’m proud that Goleta just adopted a 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2030,” said Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte. “This effort is an important and strategic first step to securing more, reliable, safe and economic energy vital to our community’s long term prosperity and welfare.”

Earlier this year, Perotte joined the Climate Mayors organization (Mayors National Climate Action Agenda), pledging to work with other U.S. mayors to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Goleta’s resolution is a major step towards achieving the city’s emission reduction goals set forth in Goleta’s Climate Action Plan.

In addition to establishing the 100 percent clean energy goal, Goleta also authorized participating in a solicitation by Southern California Edison, which will call for “energy efficiency, demand response, renewables, and energy storage, which will be deployed during times in which high energy consumption strains the distribution system.”

The city also authorized  investigating the feasibility of a city-wide Community Choice Energy program that could encourage more local renewable generation.

“Targets such as these assert the California Central Coast’s environmental leadership and send a message to state and federal agencies that our region embraces the rapid transition to renewable energy that we have seen over the last decade,” said Sigrid Wright, CEO/executive director of the Community Environmental Council.

“These goals are forward-thinking and have the potential to set a model for other communities,” Wright said.

“We salute Goleta for their leadership on 100 percent clean energy,” said Katie Davis, chair of the Sierra Club’s Santa Barbara Group. “To meet our international climate goals, we must transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.

“Moving to 100 percent renewable energy isn’t just the right thing to do for our climate, it’s the smart thing to do for our local economy,” Davis said.

“Renewable energy costs have decreased dramatically and are now cost competitive with fossil fuels, and Santa Barbara County already has eight times more jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency than in the oil industry,” she said.

“The transition to 100 percent clean energy is represents a better and more prosperous path forward for our community,” Davis said.

Goleta joins several other cities across California to champion a clean energy future. Last week, Truckee became the 50th city in the country to commit to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Goleta’s commitment signals the growing support among local communities to power a cleaner, healthier future for all.

— Stephanie Steinbrecher for Sierra Club.