Let’s also put in place a revolving loan program so that every homeowner in Santa Fe can borrow funds to tighten up home energy use and replace all appliances with energy efficient models. Then, as a reward for being energy efficient, we go solar on the roof, with monthly payments equivalent to the savings in utility bills. A $100 million program that provides an average of $10,000 per household would greatly reduce the carbon and fuel bills for 10,000 homes.

To expand on this great start, let’s devote the Northwest Quadrant that is on the other side of 599 along with the surrounding State Trust Lands to water efficient greenhouses to help provide food self-reliance to the city and to solar electric arrays for energy self-reliance. The electricity could be used to power the pumps for water brought up from the Rio Grande, the remaining street lights on intersections not converted to roundabouts, many of the homes still without solar on their roofs, and a fleet of electric cars, buses, trolleys, and the Rail Runner, so that – combined with an entire network of bike trails and unimpeded sidewalks – no trip in Santa Fe needs oil.

Time is running out for taking meaningful steps to stave off the worst effects of climate change. This time we cannot afford to wait. Let’s adopt a package of new technologies, incentives, and standards that can get us to a clean energy Santa Fe by 2018. The time to start is now.

Hughes is vice chair of the City of Santa Fe Planning Commission, conservation chair for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, and he lives in the Commons cohousing community. He is author of the 2005 essay, Flows: Blueprint for Santa Fe.