Inside Arvada

Inside Arvada's Sustainability Division with Nalini Margaitis

• City of Arvada • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Join us on Inside Arvada as we sit down with Nalini Margaitis, Arvada's Senior Sustainability Coordinator, to learn more about the City's first Climate Action and Sustainability Plan. Together, we explore the history behind Arvada's sustainability initiatives, the creation of Nalini’s position, and key focus areas of the new plan. 

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Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Inside Arvada, the City of Arvada's podcast, where we bring you conversations with the people who make Arvada a thriving community. Hear stories about the past, present and future of Arvada through the lens of the city team members who help make it all happen. Explore the complex topics impacting our community, from the roads you drive to the water you drink, the parks where you play to what your neighbors think. Join us as we take you Inside Arvada.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to Inside Arvada, the official podcast of the City of Arvada. It's episode 14, so glad you're tuning in. Today. Our guest is Nalini Margaitis, the City's Senior Sustainability Coordinator. Nalini began with the City in January of 2023. Before that, she was with the City in January of 2023. Before that, she was with the city of Bellingham, washington, working for their city council office. Nalini has over a decade of experience in the public sector and is extremely passionate about climate resilience measures that communities can take to adapt and prepare for climate-related events. And, as always, I'm joined by my co-host, katie Patterson. Hi, katie.

Speaker 1:

Hey Sean. Yeah, we had a great conversation with Nalini and really learned a lot from her about all the efforts new and kind of ongoing that have been happening at the city, everything from the currently being developed climate action and sustainability plan to ongoing partnerships with Xcel and the Partners in Energy program that offers opportunities to homes and businesses, and even the Arvada Sustainability Advisory Committee that a lot of folks may not know, also dubbed ASAC. That does a lot of is an opportunity for the community to be involved in that work and help guide the direction of that work. So really awesome conversation that we had with Nalini today. Hi Nalini, thanks so much for joining us today. So, to get started, tell us a little bit about yourself and your work with the city.

Speaker 3:

Hi, so glad to be here. Thanks for having me. I'm Nalini Marguerite. As you mentioned, I'm the Senior Sustainability Coordinator here with the city. I'm originally from New England. I've worked all over the place, all over the country, been in the public sector for over 10 years, and I'm extremely passionate about all things related to sustainability, whether it's water conservation or resilience or climate mitigation.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, let's dig a little deeper into the brief history of the sustainability department here with the city. So your position was created about a year and a half ago and previous to that, the city. We had a lot of programs and initiatives that we do and still do, that are sustainability focused or related, but never someone like yourself to kind of coordinate all those programs together and kind of be the point person on all those, and so that's one of the reasons why you were brought in. And then one of the first big projects that you've started working on is the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan. We've talked a lot about plans in the podcast over the past few episodes, and so obviously it makes sense to have a plan and a roadmap for your newly, relatively new department to kind of follow, you know, for the next several decades. Tell us about that climate action and sustainability plan, and you know what's going on with it right now, because it's been a big project that we've been working on for really almost the past year.

Speaker 3:

That's absolutely true. Thanks, sean, for bringing that up. It's really important to also understand that there was a Sustainable Added Plan back in 2010 that was created by our advisory committee, the Sustainability Advisory Committee, and revamped again in 2012. That was just kind of like a founding document relatively short, not too extensive. This plan itself will include science-based metrics and targets, engagement with the community and also input from staff and, ultimately, city council, and so we'll look at six strategic focus areas in the plan and address the community needs specific to Arvada in shaping climate change and climate policy in the city.

Speaker 2:

So climate change it's hard to ignore these days. It's such a popular topic For some people, though that might not be super aware. What exactly is climate change kind of high-level overview and why is it important to be aware of and to fight against?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely Great question, sean. So climate change I mean its most simple definition is literally the change in weathered patterns, but more specifically, we want to focus on global warming. So global warming is one of the associations with climate change. So global warming refers to the warming of the Earth's temperature overall, and so we've noticed that in the last century, a lot of the global warming has been caused by humans, due to increased fossil fuels that increase greenhouse gases, that are gases that are trapped in the Earth's surface. So this can be, for example, carbon dioxide or methane are most common, especially when we look at local, municipal sustainability plans.

Speaker 1:

And so you're touching on some of the things that I think are being included in this plan that we're developing. Sean mentioned it's been under development for just about a year now, so where are we in that process and kind of what's been done so far and what's coming up?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely Great question. Yeah, so we've actually just finished our fifth focus group with about 15 to 20 focus group members. They're subject matter experts throughout the community includes a handful of ASAC members, it also includes members from Chamber of Commerce, private sector, nonprofit sector and so forth, and basically you know subject matter experts that are able to provide a lot of insight on where they envision the community going. So we've just finished that again, the fifth focus group session. We've also compiled a lot of presentations internally to staff within different work systems and also as well to council. We're very excited at this point to have the final draft prepared at the public library on November 14th, which we'll probably come back to later in this podcast.

Speaker 2:

14th, which we'll probably come back to later in this podcast. Yeah, and so kind of one of the first steps as part of that plan was doing like an inventory, a GHG inventory, to kind of see, specific to Arvada, where our emissions are coming from. And it was interesting to learn, kind of. There was a pie chart that the consultant, lotus Engineering, that we've been working with to help develop the, did the study to see where the emissions are coming from in Arvada, and so it was interesting to me to see that 40% from residential energy use and then 23% from commercial industrial energy use, 29% from transportation. So what do we do with that GHG inventory and how does that relate to the plan?

Speaker 3:

That's a great point. Yes, the 40% residential GHG representation should not come too much of a shock just because Arata is a strong residential community and that, like you mentioned, coupled with the 23% of the commercial and energy use, just tells us where our focus should be. So that's going to help us promote programs to reduce GHG emissions in those specific sectors. So for residential and commercial, for example, we've partnered with Partners in Energy, a subsidiary of Excel, to promote home energy audits and commercial energy audits to reduce GHGs, again in the residential and commercial sectors.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you mentioned the open house that we have planned here November 14th at the Old Town Library and that'll be one of the final steps for the plan. We'll have a draft of it for community members to view and provide final feedback before it goes to city council for them to vote on if we want to adopt it or not. But that's really the final step in what has been a lot of community engagement for this project. What sort of other opportunities have we done? I mentioned on the podcast throughout the year, but what other events were we at throughout the year?

Speaker 3:

That's a great question. Yes, we've done tremendous community engagement. We started off earlier in the year with Kite Fest. We've done other activities We've done most recently at the Foster Dual Language School. We've also had some engagement with the Neighbors United Program. We've also spoken to other committees Transportation Advisory Committee and the Parks Advisory Committee. We've tabled at other city festivals throughout the year and overall we've engaged with over 800 community members.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing and, like throughout all of that, you've done those like in-person touch points where people are kind of at to engage, and then also the online survey, for we've talked about various Speak Up Arvada initiatives on the podcast before, but that kind of is the catch-all right for other folks to engage online too.

Speaker 3:

Oh, absolutely yeah, that Arvada report, it's just been all over the place. We also have our website online at arvadacogov forward slash climate action, where you can always stay abreast of everything we're working on.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Oh, go ahead and different perspectives, because this can be an issue that people's opinions are very varied across the spectrum, and so we wanted to make sure that we captured residents of all kinds and get their opinions, and not just those who are maybe really passionate about the topic.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. Our key focus area is actually strategizing to incorporate the feedback from that middle 60% because, you're absolutely right, you're always going to engage with those 20% on either end of the spectrum, but that's focusing on that 60%, which is the majority of our community, was really critical throughout these engagement opportunities.

Speaker 1:

And so you mentioned this briefly that, as the plan has kind of been narrowed, in that there are six focus areas that have been developed. What are those focus areas?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely. There are six focus areas and within those focus areas we're building out strategies for the city. So our six focus areas are energy and the built environment, land use and urban design, community vitality and economic development, transportation, waste diversion and water quality slash conservation.

Speaker 1:

Nice, okay, exciting.

Speaker 2:

Going back to the GHG inventory, I found that pretty interesting to see where those emissions are coming from. And it relates back to one of the other projects that your division has done. Your division of one, sometimes two, has done recently is providing residents with opportunities to make their houses and homes more energy efficient, and we did that through what's called the Partners in Energy Program with Xcel, and so tell us a little bit more about that program and what we've done with the Partners in Energy effort?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, absolutely, we partnered with Partners in Energy in 2023. We focused more on the residential side in 2024, more on the commercial side, but basically we've partnered to provide home energy audits and business energy audits that tell the homeowner or the business owner about where they can save on insulation, other cost-saving methods to reduce their energy and ultimately, obviously, save them in the long run.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and one of the big components of that partnership was providing home energy audits, and so as a community member, sometimes it can be a little overwhelming and be like I want to help make a difference, I want to be a part of this climate change effort, but I don't know where to start.

Speaker 2:

And so getting that home energy audit is like a good starting point, Cause, again, those energy emissions from your home is like kind of the biggest impact and reducing those is the biggest impact you can make as a family unit or an individual.

Speaker 2:

And so well you know we can link it to the show notes, to our energy page on the city website. But on that page it provides kind of step by step of first you get the energy audit. You have someone from an energy audit expert come to your home and they do a complete breakdown of everything in your home and ways that you can save money and make your house more energy efficient. Some of them are like quick fixes, like installing light bulbs and faucet aerators, but then they also provide you with a report and it's like a again like a roadmap of like all right, here's step-by-step things you can do for your home and it's factored in with costs. So it's not like install a heat pump right away and you can obviously, you know, make a big difference. That's not really affordable to a lot of people, so I think you had one done too on your place, right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely, it was really interesting. They came by, did some weather stripping and, like you mentioned, there's sink aerators and faucet shower heads, but my place actually already had those up to date. But it was really interesting, specifically on the weather stripping, just to realize how much air is coming into your home if it's not properly secured and how much potential savings you can have. And you're absolutely right, they do provide a report at the end and it's up to the homeowner if they want to pursue that option. Excel is also promoting a lot of rebates to both residential and commercial that you can find on the Excel website, and so there's a lot of incentives there's at the state level with Excel, for example, and hopefully with the city eventually. So again, please come back to our website in the next year or so when we're in the implementation phase of our climate action plan.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know it seems like each season I get maybe several or kind of like a blast of emails from Excel that are like do these things to prepare for winter, do these things to prepare for summer? And so, like this is just kind of a way to bundle all of that up for someone to do some auditing of their home that can work year round, which is really cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that webpage is arvadacogov slash energy. The city isn't offering currently the free full audit that we did previously, but I know I checked recently and Excel is still offering discounts on there. There's like three levels and there's discounts on each one of those, so that's a great starting point and reminds me that I need to check my report and follow up on some of the items that were recommended to make my home more energy efficient.

Speaker 1:

Get on that, Sean.

Speaker 2:

I know.

Speaker 1:

So we touched on climate action plan, we touched on partners and energy. What are some other things that you've been working on?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, great question. There's so many opportunities right now stemming especially from the federal level. There's a lot of grant and funding opportunities. Arvada has historically partnered with Resource Central to promote lawn replacement programs and other programs. You can check our website on that as well. We've done wonderful marketing on that and there's been high demand on a variety of our programs, including our turf removal program or sprinkler program. Again I mentioned, there's a lot of federal grants coming through from the IRA. We just recently were awarded regionally, through Dr Cogg, a handful of dollars that again promote sustainability and climate action methods and plans, and so that, coupled with the Colorado Energy Office.

Speaker 3:

We'll have a lot of opportunity once we're in the implementation phase of the climate action plan.

Speaker 1:

And Dr Cogg we mentioned this with Kelly when she was on as well is the Denver Regional Council of Governments and they do a lot of transportation-oriented coordinating work and beyond, okay, air quality, all kinds of things, I guess. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Some other programs that the city has been doing and that we want to also highlight is the Better Buildings Challenge.

Speaker 1:

I know that's kind of something internal that the city was recognized for what a year ago or so, our city-owned facilities to reduce energy consumption in those facilities by 20%, and we actually achieved well over 20% in that what was 12, it might've ended up being 13 years, about 2010 to what was supposed to be 2020. They extended it a little bit because no one was in facilities in 2020, with all the pandemic shutdown, and so really exciting to achieve that. Some of that came from new facilities that were created to meet LEED certification, which is a certification you get for meeting certain energy standards, and so when new facilities were created, it helped meet those goals. But we also subscribe to solar farms as a city. The Arvada Center, for example, has solar panels on the facility and they did a lot of work at. The Arvada Center, for example, has solar panels on the facility and they did a lot of work.

Speaker 1:

At the Arvada Center in particular, that was a huge contributing factor because it's such a big facility and same with City Hall. Those being such big facilities, they consumed a lot of energy. They're old facilities and so by making improvements in those, they were really able to achieve that challenge, which was pretty exciting. And then we've also been doing the facilities, and fleet teams have been working internally on grants for fleet electrification and EV chargers. So like the EV chargers at the parking hub in Old Town, for example, and the new Arvada Aquatic Center will also have that infrastructure built in, and then they're working on getting the funding for building EV charging structures there as well, and so that's some public facing. And then we also have kind of internal stuff for those programs as well. So exciting stuff that we're doing internally a little bit more that people don't necessarily see.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, practicing what we preach, right? Yeah, you know, before we go to the lightning round, we always like to end every interview with our guests to provide the opportunity to clarify maybe some misconceptions or some just clear up some things that people may not understand about the work that you do. So, nalene, now's your opportunity. You kind of mentioned the Sustain Arvada plan that was drafted almost like longer than a decade now, which was a great start and has been incorporated into the current plan, but are there any other misconceptions or things you want to clarify or expand on that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, great question, sean. We often hear about people being hesitant to convert to a lot of the more green technology and green investment in buildings due to upfront costs, and I believe that is a misconception, just simply because the costs are not as different as they used to be. They're a lot more similar. In fact, sometimes, in the long run, it's actually even less costly to opt into the green buildings option. So, for example, in combination, there's also rebates and grants and other opportunities and tax incentives as well at the federal level. So I think, in total, people shouldn't be as hesitant. Maybe, and maybe do a little bit more research. Come to our website, give us a call. We can let you know about certain programs or rebates to help you out. So definitely don't hesitate to make those improvements due to a financial barrier, because there are opportunities to balance that out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it can get overwhelming with all the rebates, both state and federal tax incentives. I mean there's a lot. There is a resource that we mentioned in the Arvada report not too long ago that we can link in the show notes and it's through, I believe, rewiring America and you kind of plug in your address and your home details and what improvements you're looking for, and then it should spit out the rebates that are available to you, and so we included that previously in our report. It's a pretty nifty guide to get you started and we can link it to in our show notes as well.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. I must have missed that Arvada Report article. I must have missed that Arvada Report article and the one I heard recently was the like $20 a month leasing of a Nissan Leaf and that's mostly based on, like state rebates and various things like that. That there is so much out there. I mean, you hear about e-bikes all the time. I feel like because like there's just so many rebates just for e-bikes and there's something like that it seems like for everything. So that's cool to hear about. Like put in what you're looking for and here's kind of what you can get out of that. That's really awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I believe it was a national site, but then Governor Polis was involved in catering it specifically to Colorado as well and making sure that the state incentives were factored into the algorithm there when you plug everything in.

Speaker 1:

Nice, that's great. Well, let's move on to the lightning round and let's see if there's anything else around misconceptions or Not misconceptions.

Speaker 3:

I think we often find, for example, that waste diversion hits one of the lowest percentages on GHG emissions. But there's also from our engagement opportunities. We realize that there's so much interest in our residents in Arvada to promote waste diversion actions, and so that's another important item I'd like to bring up. We're going to be promoting recycling in Old Town coming up, so stay tuned for more information on that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exciting. That is something I think the Sustainability Committee has been interested in having for a long time there in Old Town, so that's coming soon.

Speaker 2:

It's in the works.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, coming soon, it's in the works, yeah, coming soon. Okay, so lightning round, we'll ask you a set of questions here just to help our listeners get to know you a little bit better. Kind of quick questions to just things about you. So first, what is your favorite thing about Arvada? It can be a place, fact or even a hidden gem.

Speaker 3:

I definitely. I love the community aspect. I love it seems, you know, after all these community engagement events there's really high turnout. People generally care about the community. They really value their parks, open space, sustainability efforts, so I really like that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Way to go, Arvadan. What was your first, last or best concert?

Speaker 3:

I'd say any concert at Red Rocks.

Speaker 1:

Nice, any favorite.

Speaker 3:

Their word, one that comes to mind Definitely some highlights in there. I'd say Neil Young was definitely up there.

Speaker 1:

What brought you to Arvada?

Speaker 3:

Well, most recently, this position. I had lived in Colorado before, though, but I did come out of state for this position.

Speaker 1:

Nice, where'd you come from?

Speaker 3:

I recently moved from Washington State.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I didn't know that. What was your first job?

Speaker 3:

My first job was a musicianship coach with Boston City Singers in Massachusetts back in high school.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what was your? What's your favorite project you've done with the city?

Speaker 3:

I definitely, I would say the projects that are in the works right now. Obviously, the Climate Action Plan is, you know, up there, so I'd have to.

Speaker 1:

I'd have to list that, yeah, that's a huge one, so it's been a big undertaking. Well, thank you so much, nalini, for coming on. It's been really great getting to chat with you and learn more about the work that you're doing, and we're lucky to have you here at the city.

Speaker 3:

Well, thanks for having me, Katie and John.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, come meet Nalini and the rest of the project team at the open house coming up here on November 14th. Thanks for coming on the show, Nalini. Thanks guys go. We wanted to wrap up with our news and events segment and, as a reminder, there's several ways you can get in touch with the show. You can text the show there should be a link there in the episode description. In all of our different ways, you can listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts as well. You can also email the show at podcasts at arvadaorg, or you can visit our webpage at arvadacogov slash podcast.

Speaker 2:

We love hearing feedback from our listeners, whether it's what you loved about an episode. Maybe you have an idea about a future episode, what you didn't like about an episode. We love hearing your feedback. Maybe you want a sticker? Email us a request for a sticker and we can make that happen. So, as we mentioned a couple of times during the interview with Nalini, the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan Open House is coming up on November 14th there at the Arvada Library in Old Town. It's an open house style meeting, so you can come in at any time between 5 and 7 pm and talk with the project team, learn more about the plan and provide some final feedback before it's finalized. And then as well, we have the annual community surveys open now. We'll link to that in our show notes, and the survey is done each year to hear from our community members about how you feel the city is doing and what directions you'd like to see the city go in the future.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we also have an upcoming opportunity around the city's first of its kind transportation system plan called Connecting Arvada, and that plan is being developed to help us prioritize planning for really the next 20 years of transportation opportunities in the city. So it's a really big and robust plan that's taken nearly two years of development. There was a first round of engagement last year and now we'll be asking for more feedback before that plan is finalized. So be on the lookout for more information here in the coming weeks and really excited to get final feedback and a final plan underway with that. And additionally, the Leaf drop-off event is coming up at Stenger Sports Complex starting November 2nd through November 16th and that drop-off event is open Mondays through Saturdays and then closed on Sundays from 9 am to 2 pm. That is staffed. Often Saturdays are the busiest, but you can stop by Monday through Friday as well and it's open to all residents. Just be prepared to show some proof of residency either a utility bill, an ID, those sorts of things and then be prepared to empty your own bags of leaves. So you got to empty the leaves out of the bags into a pile of leaves so that they can get recycled. And this year. One change the entrance last year was on Oak Street. This year that entrance is actually going to be on 58th Avenue and then there'll be a little bit of a loop in the parking lot to help mitigate the flow of traffic. So we have a map on our website and we'll be sure to push that out through all our communication channels for the event. So that's November 2nd through 16th.

Speaker 1:

Again, and thanks again to our guest today, Nalini Margaitis. It was really a pleasure to talk with her. Be sure to listen to our next episode. We will have our city's finance director, Brian Archer, on to talk all things city finances, budget and the upcoming adoption of the presentation of the 2025 budget for adoption from city council. That's coming up here in the month of October. So stay in touch with the podcast, as always. Like Sean mentioned earlier, you can visit our website at arvadagov slash podcast. Please subscribe to the show, Send it to a friend, a family member, a neighbor. Help spread the word so we can get a really good audience, sharing their feedback and letting us know what they want to hear more about. And you can do that yourself with a text, like we mentioned, or a podcast at arvadaorg. Ask us a question. We'll answer it on the next episode and, as always, thank you to all of our listeners. Today's episode was recorded and edited by Arvada Media Services producers Steve Mielke and Tomas Martinez.

Speaker 2:

And today's fun fact that I'll leave you with is the US Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge partners, which includes the city of Arvada, have saved $18.5 billion in energy costs.