The EcoMap gives San Franciscans the ability to see the collective results of their individual footprint but also offers up nifty comparison of other zip codes so we can all spy on how Pac Heights compares to Potrero Hill. How many of the Marina crowd pours CO2 into the air from transportation, energy and waste versus their Russian Hill neighbors? With this map it’s easy to check out the various carbon footprints of the various ‘hoods.

The EcoMap gives people incentives to improve as it displays progress toward meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals. It also serves up healthy does of useful, locally available tools and resources for anyone wishing to reduce their carbon footprint.

EcoMap amasses information on a neighborhood level, organized by zip codes through Discover Your City’s Neighborhoods and Take Climate Actions, both of which offer interesting and useful info to educate and motivate (not to mention how to spy on our neighbors’ carbon footprint.

This pilot project brings together the resources and efforts of Cisco and the City and County of San Francisco. And of course SF Mayor Gavin Newsom likes to mention that, “Cities are the world’s major source of greenhouse gas emissions, consuming 75 percent of the world’s energy,” so he’s practically beaming that SF represents the first city in the world to launch an EcoMap that can reverse that trend.

We pretty excited to see full blown release. And we’d like to eventually see more complete data for other cities and zip codes which squarely reside behind the green eight ball. I don’t know how sustainable the 90210 is but here’s hoping that the 94117 rocks the sustainable world.

San Franciscans utter a lot about our lovely municipal transit system otherwise known as MUNI but now they have even more reason to spout off about it. Normally when we hear MUNI coming out of someone’s mouth it usually follows on the heels of “Damn.” Now we can change that utterance to “Green Muni”. Sure, the 71 bus might not come on time but when it does arrive at least it will be running on biodiesel. In fact, San Fran now claims to have the largest green fleet in the nation.Of course, the fleet includes not just MUNI but ambulances and street sweepers as well. The fleet runs on virgin soy oil bought from producers in the Midwest. Sure, we’d like the fuel purchased from somewhere local but hopefully that will come in time.

The environmentally friendlier fuel will hopefully sharply reduce toxic diesel exhaust linked to a higher risk of asthma and premature death. Just last month, Mayor Newsom announced a new project called SFGreasecycle, a program to collect fats and cooking oils from restaurants, at no charge.All of the city’s 1,500 diesel vehicles power up using the fuel known as B20, a mix of 20 percent soy-based biofuel and 80 percent petroleum diesel fuel, which reduces toxic emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other pollutants that lead to global warming.

Although B20 marks an improvement, it’s still 80 percent petroleum diesel. We’re looking for B100. And we have word of a B100 station opening soon.