Easy being green

A Peninsula city and high school were both tapped recently for their efforts to go green.

Palo Alto ranked No. 1 in a new study highlighting the greenest small cities across the U.S., while St. Francis High School in Mountain View was one of just five schools in California to be recognized as a 2025 California Green Ribbon School Green Achiever.

The study by Compare the Market AU lauded Palo Alto for its six farmers markets, 379 EV charging stations and 75 ENERGY STAR certified buildings. Menlo Park’s 772 EV charging stations were among the factors that placed the city in the Top 10  greenest small U.S. cities. Read the full study at https://bit.ly/3GLiFNX.

Saint Francis earned recognition as a Green Achiever by implementing initiatives and improvements to meet long-term goals. The school achieved an 11.3% reduction in energy usage since 2016 through extensive retrofitting and the installation of solar panels now supplying 51% of its energy needs. Water use has been reduced by 10% across campus through low-flow fixtures, drip irrigation, bioswales and drought-resistant landscaping.

Open Studios

Palo Alto artist Patricia Jones is among the mid-Peninsula participants in the second weekend of Silicon Valley Open Studios May 10-11. Jones uses thick oil paint, energetic brush strokes and a variety of unorthodox tools such as spatulas, knives, twigs and scrapers to create her works. “I am on a mission to take underappreciated subjects and infuse them with vitality,” she says.

Studios are open on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.  To see an interactive map of the more than 100 artist locations and view a gallery of all the participating artists, visit https://svos.org.