Representatives of Napa County and its five cities are working together to combat global warming.

This summer, representatives for each jurisdiction agreed to craft plans to reduce greenhouse gases, with the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency serving as a technical resource.

   Napa has lagged behind many other Bay Area cities and counties in grappling with climate change, but no more, officials said. The city is now working on a green building ordinance to encourage environmentally-friendly construction and planning practices.

   St. Helena, which created a climate protection task force last fall, had been “leading the train. Now everybody is on board,” said Jim Leddy, the NCTPA’s executive director.

   To jump-start local energy conservation efforts, the NCTPA plans to hire a full-time coordinator, dubbed a “climate protection czar” by Leddy. This person would be half funded by a new Napa County program to advise private industry. If additional grants can be found, the coordinator would also help local government cut energy use, Leddy said.

   Each jurisdiction will be ask to come up with its own plan to save energy and operate more efficiently, said St. Helena Mayor Del Britton. These are worthy goals regardless of whether someone believes in global warming, he said.

   Local jurisdictions are being encouraged to sign up for climate protection programs offered by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an global organization based in Oakland dedicated to local environmental efforts.

   Sandra Ericson, co-chair of the St. Helena Climate Protection Task Force, said her city was inventorying its energy consumption as a first step to finding ways to cut back.

St. Helena waives building fees for solar installations and will make climate protection a separate element of its new general plan, Ericson said.

   Saying that energy savings, big and small, add up, Leddy announced a change in refreshment for future NCTPA meetings. “Say good-bye to the bottled water,” he said.

Henceforth, water will be served in glasses from a pitcher, saving the energy used to produce and transport the plastic bottles.

Healthy building

   If the city of Napa adopts a green building ordinance in coming months, one man will get a large share of the credit.

Bob Massaro, CEO of Healthy Buildings, has been on a campaign to get the Napa City Council to wake up to the threat of global warming.

Because Massaro is not a dewy-eyed environmentalist but a builder faced with “bottom line” practicalities, his environmental message has extra credibility, Councilwoman Juliana Inman said.

   Massaro operates out of red brick building on Coombs Street. His offices have been remodeled to feature “healthy” materials from renewable sources. Flooring is of tile, polished concrete and bamboo. Bookcases are of steel.

   Massaro, who has a master’s degree in public health, began as a builder in 1984 in Los Angeles when he teamed up with his brother, Jon, an architect.

He said that when he moved to Napa in 1995, “I was tired of building mansions for rich people. I converted to entry level workforce housing. I enjoy that much more,” he said.

Massaro is working with Knight Properties on plans for a 16-home subdivision in Yountville to showcase energy efficiency. “It will be a statement project for the whole valley,” he said.

   Healthy Buildings recently built the 46-unit Valley Oak Villas on Kilburn Avenue in Napa’s Westwood neighborhood. A workforce project priced from the low $400,000s to the low $600,000s, the townhomes have steel framing, concrete siding and instant-on hot water heaters. Kitchen cabinets are built from wheat husks without the chemicals used in standard cabinetry.

With Napa Valley cities getting on the green bandwagon, endorsing efforts to reduce their greenhouse gases, Napa County is quickly catching up with some of its Bay Area neighbors, Massaro said.

   “People go green either because of fashion or because of passion,” he said. Either way is fine with him.