Projects

Our community is no stranger to the perils of wildfire season. With wildland urban interface (WUI) land throughout our region, the City of San Leandro becomes subject to public safety power shuttoffs (PSPS). 

During rolling blackouts, it is critical that the City can keep our power on to maintain essential services. From public safety to basic energy needs, critical services were compromised in the face of PSPS, but those days appear to have sunset. 

San Leandro is adding battery energy storage systems to ensure the continuity of these services, regardless of weather conditions or PSPS. Moreover, we’ve added solar panels at essential sites, such as the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP), that have made us that much more independent from the electricity grid.

San Leandro City Parks are now autonomous. Irrigation control systems can now be accessed remotely and take local weather information into account to optimally adjust watering run times, minimizing water usage and cost. This saves energy and water: two precious California resources.

Efficiency is hard to see, but San Leandro has given it a user-interface.

A web-based energy dashboard monitors real-time energy usage, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels and renewable energy generation at City facilities. This free-standing kiosk – located at city hall – promotes increased environmental awareness among staff and members of the community.

City hall is cool again or warm, depending on what is comfortable.

Did you know heating and cooling buildings is one of the largest generators of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the nation? 

As the City continues finding ways to run faster, better, and more robust, efficiently heating and cooling buildings remain at the top of our priorities list.

Having fully up-to-date HVAC systems offers our City benefits beyond greater sustainability. They create more comfortable work and recreation spaces for City employees and residents to enjoy, improve indoor air quality thanks to advanced filters built into each and every unit, plus they save the City and our taxpayers a pretty penny on reduced maintenance and operations costs. 

We bet you think HVACs are that much “cooler” now!

More and more of the economy is moving to the cloud and that movement demands faster Internet access. San Leandro captured an opportunity to partner with OSI Soft founder Pat Kennedy to create the starting point of a municipal fiber optic network: Lit San Leandro. Today that fiber optic network has expanded through many areas in the City, providing pristine fiber access for businesses that need to operate at the speed of Light. The fiber ring also connects City of San Leandro services and infrastructure, providing the baseline connectivity required to implement a truly smart city. Learn more about Lit San Leandro at https://litsanleandro.com/. 

Smart Street Lights have one more trick to offer: wireless network connectivity.

The same network that allows for remote management of the lights allows for other devices to connect through the mesh network created by the street lights. For a city this a hugely powerful tool as street lights often blanket, in a systematic way, the entire community, enabling the City to connect nearly every corner of the community with its infrastructure. For example, this mesh network can offer wifi, talk to water or parking meters, sanitary sewer SCADA systems or street camera systems.

Bright ideas are not limited to street lights.

New LED lighting on the interior and exterior of city buildings is achieving multiple benefits. Exterior lighting demonstrably deters crime, while the technology behind light emitting diode (LED) technology dramatically (80% or more) reduces power consumption compared to traditional lights. Exterior lighting also provides enabled night use of park facilities that create safety and increase recreational opportunities. Meanwhile new interior lighting improves worker productivity and reduces power use with both a reduction in the amount of electricity consumed and the heat generated by the lights. Interior lights are matched up with occupancy-based lighting controls that turn on and off the lights as rooms are occupied and vacated – no longer requiring everyone to remember to turn off the lights when they leave. Finally, the longer lifespan of LED lighting reduces the labor involved in changing out light bulbs.

Less is more nowadays when it comes to powering pool filters at the San Leandro Family Aquatic Center.

The City has automated the filtration process with a smart pump control system that works in tandem with both filter and chemical controls to operate the system more efficiently while ensuring our pool water is as clean and safe as possible. 

The modernized system simplifies and adapts the filtration process to the pool’s actual demand, made possible through its succinct design. Whereas, older systems typically separate motor and control functions and operate filtration pumps at a single speed, San Leandro’s new system consolidates both in a single unit and adjusts the water flow based on real-time data. Now, instead  of operating components independently, we have one system that optimizes the filtration process while reducing costs to run and maintain the equipment. 

Experience the filters for yourself: sign up for swimming classes or as a member of the center to enjoy the pools.

Can a light do more than remove the darkness? Yes.

San Leandro has implemented smart street lights throughout the community. This brilliant solution deliver three cool features. First, the lights are Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights which means their power consumption is just a fraction of the ones they replaced – saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the City’s operations. Second, the lights have a much longer average lifespan before they burn out, thus reducing operating costs. Finally – the smart part – the lights are connected in a mesh network that can be remotely managed and monitored. This gives the City the ability to dim or brighten the lights as needed, or monitor when they are not working properly. These smart lights save energy, save the environment and save money.

San Leandro is now harnessing the power of the sun with a one megawatt solar power generation system located at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP). The movement and processing of water demands intense electricity loads, so placement of a solar array near the plant was an excellent way to offset power demands. The new array will reduce the City’s reliance on grid provided electric power, GHG emissions and utility costs, generating substantial savings for the City over the next 30 years.

San Leandro has been on a mission to implement green initiatives for years. Technological innovation has been a huge part of this endeavor. 

The City is making the most out of waste at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP). By using biogas, a natural byproduct of the wastewater reclamation process, we’re turning waste gas into clean renewable natural gas (RNG). RNG is a renewable energy resource that can be used to power commercial trucks and buses, in place of diesel or other ‘dirty” fuel sources.

The waste gas to RNG system works by breaking down organic materials without oxygen. Through this process, the organisms decomposing materials produce raw biogas which is typically burned off at a flare. At the WPCP, waste from local food processors will be introduced to the process to “supercharge” biogas production. The biogas will then be cleaned, compressed, and used to fuel vehicles, rather than wasted at the flare.

San Leandro City Parks are now autonomous. Irrigation control systems can now be accessed remotely and take local weather information into account to optimally adjust watering run times, minimizing water usage and cost. This saves energy and water: two precious California resources.