OVERVIEW
The City of Ojai has now been Certified as the first AGZA Green Zone®City in Ventura County, and the second city-wide AGZA Green Zone in the United States. American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) certified the sustainability achievement at a public ceremony in Ojai’s Libbey Park, Friday April 12th.
Ojai’s city-wide AGZA Green Zone now protects 52 acres across 19 municipal properties, including all parks and sports fields and city hall, in perpetuity.
AGZA CERTIFICATION
AGZA Green Zone City Certification establishes and verifies that all routine grounds maintenance on municipal properties — mowing, hedging, edging, trimming, sawing, and blowing — are serviced exclusively with low-noise zero-emission battery-electric equipment and manual hand tools. AGZA Green Zones are the most rigorous sustainability criteria in the world for eliminating the health and environmental impacts of the lawn & garden industry.
DATA
Every year Ojai’s AGZA Green Zone prevents the creation of over 82 tons of CO2, CO, HC, PM2.5, and NOx from the city. Noise has been permanently reduced by 40% to 70%. Fuel spillage, evaporative emissions and solid waste from gas maintenance have been completely eliminated. Significant reductions in hourly operational costs from the gas fleet — fuel, oil, parts, and maintenance — will achieve a healthy ROI on the new electric fleet, and ongoing savings thereafter.
• TOTAL AIRBORNE POLLUTANTS eliminated
• CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) eliminated
• CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) eliminated
• HYDROCARBONS (HC) eliminated
• PARTICULATE MATTER (PM 2.5) eliminated
• NITROGEN OXIDES (NOx) eliminated
• NOISE REDUCTION
• FUEL, OIL and GAS-RELATED PARTS
• MAINTENANCE TIME and COSTS
• OPERATIONAL COSTS
• COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS
= 82 tons
= 66 tons
= 14 tons
= 1.3 tons
= 573 lbs
= 150 lbs
= 40%-70%
= 100% eliminated
= dramatically reduced
= dramatically reduced
= raised
RESULTS
• Ojai’s city-wide AGZA Green Zone® is complete and certified. All routine grounds maintenance across 52 acres and 19 properties are now serviced by low-noise zero-emission equipment and operations (see map below).
• The AGZA Green Zone has been designed, implemented, and verified to substantially reduce noise and entirely eliminate air pollution and gas-related fuel, oil and parts forever.
• All gas-powered machines formerly used for Ojai’s routine grounds maintenance have been decommissioned. The VCAPCD grant which funded the electric fleet procurement mandates the gas tools be scrapped to permanently prevent all future pollution.
• The gas fleet has been completely replaced with an AGZA approved commercial-grade electric fleet. The new battery-electric tools, battery bank, and charging infrastructure were specified and proven to have ample power, performance, run-time, durability, and operational aesthetic for full-time city-wide commercial operations.
• The Ojai grounds workforce has been educated and trained on the new electric fleet for optimal operation, including safe battery management and charging procedures. The crew are now certified AGZA Service Pros.
• Substantially lower hourly operational costs of the electric fleet will provide significant financial savings over gas operations. Net operational savings will compound annually to achieve a healthy ROI.
• The noticeably quieter, cleaner AGZA Green Zone grounds operations throughout the city’s parks, sports fields, and municipal properties will serve as a permanent sustainability inspiration. Families, schools, businesses, and commercial crews may consider transitioning their own lawn and garden care to quiet, zero-emission equipment, further benefiting the quality of life in the Ojai Valley.
SPEAKERS
City of Ojai Mayor Johnston
Johnny Johnston, City of Ojai Mayor
Ashley Orozco: District Rep for US Congresswoman Julia Brownley
Michelle Sevilla: Field Rep for CA Assemblymember Monique Limón
Brittany Holden: District Rep for CA Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson
Greg Grant, City of Ojai Public Works Director
Miguel Contreras, City of Ojai Public Works Supervisor
Steve Colomé, Ojai Valley Rep to APCD Advisory Committee
Michael Villegas, APC Officer, Ventura County APCD
Catherine Dunwoody, Chief, Monitoring and Laboratory Division, CARB
Carmen Ramirez, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Oxnard
Mike Stubblefield, Chair, Clean Air Fund Advisory Committee
Brian Sheridan, Development Director, Coalition for Clean Air
Dan Mabe, Founder and President, American Green Zone Alliance
“this is just hilariously cost effective and is low-hanging fruit that we really should be embracing overall.”
“ojai has demonstrated that you can run an entire public works department on battery-electric equipment.”
“we definitely know it is a matter of changing our habits, learning to plug in instead of refuel. but the benefits are really tremendous, not only in cleaner air for the community but also reduced exposure to toxic emissions for the workers and also improving our climate.”
“this was by far the best investment — in my view — that we made in the twenty years that the clean air fund has existed.”
“hey! it actually did work. some of our fears were misplaced, and if we evolve into this we can do it with minimal disruption.”
“this project demonstrates how battery-operated equipment is not some science fiction thing, that it is here and ready for prime time. and with a little confidence of the people getting behind it, that it can be commercially successful. ”
“we love working with people. building trust, forming bonds, and becoming part of a community such as ojai is incredibly rewarding.”
“ojai has reached the federal standard of 70 parts per billion well ahead of schedule. so I think you should congratulate yourselves.”
“the story of this success is already echoing throughout southern california and across the country. your agza green zone gives the next community, the next school, and the next air district the confidence they seek to move ambitiously toward sustainable and responsible grounds maintenance.”
PHOTOS
A special thank you to Ojai photographer Stephen Adams for capturing the best moments of the day. Contact Stephen at (805) 205-4661 or www.stephenadamsphoto.com.
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