Menlo Spark

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Menlo Spark is a nonprofit organization joining together businesses, residents and government to achieve a climate neutral community within ten years.

Menlo Spark began when a small group of community members with diverse interests and experience joined together to explore opportunities to promote long-term economic vitality, equity, and quality of life in Menlo Park while addressing the urgent threat of climate change. We believe that Menlo Park, with its highly engaged citizenry and unique resources in the heart of Silicon Valley, can be a national leader in sustainability and climate action, generating massive local benefits while serving as an example to similar cities and towns across the country. Menlo Spark is a nonprofit initiative that collaborates with the city government, businesses, and residents to ensure the success of the community’s efforts on climate and sustainability-related issues. By helping to weave together the network of projects and initiatives in the city that may contribute to sustainability, Menlo Spark actively works towards a more unified strategy for progress towards the ultimate goal of climate neutrality.

11/05/2026

🎉 A HISTORIC WIN for clean air in the Bay Area!

Today, the Bay Area Air District voted to move forward with the nation's strongest clean water heater standards, putting millions of households on a path toward zero-emission electric heat pumps as old gas units need replacing.

Gas appliances in Bay Area homes and buildings generate more smog-forming pollution than all passenger cars combined. Moving to cleaner technology can help prevent asthma attacks, save lives, and reduce harmful pollution in our communities.

The standards also include exemptions for low-income households and flexibility for complicated installations, helping ensure families aren't left behind.

Menlo Spark and allies have advocated for this rule at the regional level for years and welcome the vote as a major helper in improving public health and eliminating building pollution equitably. Cleaner air. Healthier homes. Lower energy bills. That's progress worth celebrating! 💚

11/03/2026

For generations, Bayview Hunters Point has experienced the impacts of environmental pollution. This Wednesday, the Bay Area Air District has an opportunity to move forward with clean air standards for water heaters that can help reduce harmful pollution from buildings and support healthier homes.

Tonia Randell, a lifelong Bayview resident and Administrative Director and Board Secretary of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, recently replaced her gas water heater with an electric heat pump.

For Tonia, the experience was about more than replacing an appliance. She says the contractor treated her with dignity and respect and showed her what energy improvements should look like: done with our communities, not around us.

Every gas water heater replaced is a step toward cleaner air, healthier homes, lower utility bills, and more high-road jobs. Each upgrade brings us closer to a cleaner energy future for our communities.

The new standards matter because our communities matter. 🌱

📢 So join us on November 4th and call on the Air District to protect clean air standards!

10/16/2026

Tired of your energy bill going up every year? We are!

Heat pumps offer an efficient alternative to traditional heating and water heating technologies. For many homeowners, switching to electric heat pumps can also reduce energy costs.

Our incredible partner, Bay Area contractor Owen Grimsage, owner of 1888heatpumpsofficial, says his team frequently finds that customers see lower energy bills after installing air-source heat pumps.

That combination of energy efficiency, cleaner air, and local job opportunities is central to the conversation about the Bay Area's future energy systems.

This November's Bay Area Air District vote on November 4th could help expand access to efficient electric water heating and the jobs that come with it. 💧

Menlo Spark and the Bay Area Clean Air coalition are calling on residents to defend strong clean air standards and protect the progress made in 2023. 👉 Sign the petition in our bio and add your voice.

10/14/2026

Did you know there’s an election?

You probably did! Check out some of the environmentally-related initiatives that Menlo Spark supports.

We’re voting NO on Menlo Park’s Measure P, which will stop the City of Menlo Park from adding housing to City-owned parking lots in downtown Menlo Park. This measure is meant to stop housing where it could be helpful and could prevent our city from meeting state-required housing targets. We need a thriving, inhabited downtown where workers of all income levels can live in the community where they work! 🏡

We’re voting YES on Measure RTM to support Caltrain, SamTrans, and other regional transportation agencies. This sales tax measure prevents major transit service cuts and supports ridership programs. Let’s support the transportation that helps the Bay Area stay connected. 🚊

We’re voting NO on California Proposition 45, an attempt by large developers to roll back California’s most important clean air, water, and other environmental protections through CEQA and weaken community input on projects being built near their communities.

07/10/2026

Why are our gas bills rising? ♨️

For many families in our community, higher gas bills have become the new normal. Yet Californians are actually using less gas than they did five years ago. So why do costs keep rising?

In a new San Francisco Chronicle op-ed, SPUR’s Sam Fishman explains that we’re increasingly paying to maintain a vast gas delivery network as demand declines. The result is a troubling cycle: fewer customers relying on the gas system, but mounting infrastructure costs that continue to be paid by ratepayers.

Fishman argues that the Bay Area Air District clean appliance standards offer an opportunity to move toward a different future—one with more affordable electric appliances, cleaner air, healthier communities, and less dependence on an increasingly costly gas system.

The next time you open your gas bill, ask yourself: if we’re using less gas, why are we paying more for it?

Read the full op-ed here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/gas-water-heater-bay-area-22315576.php

06/12/2026

Read our Executive Director’s letter to the editor!

Bay Area residents are being fed misinformation for clean air rules that phase our existing gas appliances. In this letter to the editor, Menlo Spark’s Executive Director Brian Schmidt reminds readers what these clean air rules really are about: public health, affordability, and equity.

Read the full LTE here: bit.ly/airdistrictLTE

05/20/2026

Cool air. Hot showers. Lower bills. Peace of mind.

These are the benefits renters at our latest electrification building project in Berkeley now enjoy after their gas appliances for space and water heating were replaced with electric heat pumps.

What makes the addition of heat pump water heaters and HVAC systems so special? It’s not just about reducing climate pollution in our communities. It means:
💡 residents now pay less in energy bills
💡 coming home to consistent hot water
💡 tenants with asthma face lower risk of asthma attacks on high-pollution days
💡 tenants previously displaced by gas leaks can breathe easy in their homes again.

We brought together policymakers, building owners, contractors, and clean air advocates to walk through this 65-year-old building and see how it was done. The takeaway was clear: everyone is happier with heat pumps.

Our homes’ appliances shouldn’t hurt our health or our wallets, and we’re showing how welcoming heat pump technology is the right move for our homes.

Thank you to our incredible partners, GLD Green Energy and the building owner for developing this project with us. And thank you to the city staff and leaders who joined us on this tour.

05/07/2026

Polluters want to delay clean air protections. Yesterday, Menlo Spark joined 99 Bay Area community members to tell the meeting to say NO to big polluters. 🚫

Yesterday’s Bay Area Air District board meeting had a broad coalition backing up clean air standards for water heaters. Youth activists spoke about the future they deserve. Physicians described the patients they see suffering from pollution-related illness. Contractors talked about the jobs and opportunities that come with the clean energy transition.

The message was consistent: the Bay Area is ready for clean air standards that will help households upgrade to efficient electric appliances that cost less to run and keep families healthier.

Menlo Spark supports these standards that help households upgrade to cleaner, more efficient electric appliances. They’re better for our health, and better for our energy bills.

No delays. Tell Bay Area Air District: implement these rules with common-sense flexibility measures on time.

05/05/2026

The smog isn’t just coming from traffic. It’s coming from our homes.

Gas-burning water heaters and furnaces produce more smog-forming pollution than all passenger cars in the Bay Area combined.

We already have clean air standards that can save lives. Now they need to be implemented.

Today, this message is featured in a full-page San Francisco Chronicle ad from the Bay Area Clean Air Coalition.

Tell Bay Area Air District: don’t delay. Protect our air. Implement Rule 9-6. Take a look at the ad and help amplify!

05/04/2026

Last Saturday, Menlo Spark celebrated Earth Day the best way we know how: By joining our communities to celebrate our planet at the Love Our Earth Festival 🌎🌟

It was a day of art, environmental education, and community joy. It was wonderful to see our Menlo Park and East Palo Alto communities come together to plant trees, make Earth Altars, and enjoy some Bad Bunny tunes while we visited over 50 local vendors, nonprofits, and public agencies 🤝

We appreciate to the 400+ community members who attended the Love Our Earth Festival. A special thank you to our incredible volunteers who helped run the event and ensure all attendees could enjoy 🙌

Thank you to our incredible partners who hosted and sponsored this event: City of Menlo Park Government, City of East Palo Alto - Government, 350 Silicon Valley, Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet, Peninsula Clean Energy, and Ravenswood Middle School.

It was a delight to co-sponsor this wonderful event promoting awareness, joy, and most importantly, hope!

Can’t wait for next year’s festival! 🎉

Photo Credit: ProBono Photo/Alfred Leung

Address

Menlo Park, CA

Website

http://www.menlospark.org/, http://linktr.ee/menlospark

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