SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Sustainability in South Lake Tahoe had a major win with the three-cart system in 2024, helping to further prevent food waste in the community. But Sara Letton, sustainability coordinator for the city of South Lake Tahoe, said that 2024 was primarily a year of planning for her. In the new year, the city will be upgrading several major facilities to make them more energy efficient, as well as installing more electric vehicle chargers, bringing the city closer to its sustainability goals.

Letton says that the city’s Climate Action Plan, first published in 2020, has given her focus on three areas: energy, transportation, and waste. While waste seemed to be the major change in 2024, she was also helping to secure the adoption of a $12 million project with Willdan Solutions. “It’s a once in a lifetime kind of change,” said Letton.

The project is slated to make major changes to the infrastructure in South Lake Tahoe, which Letton says is “bringing our buildings closer to the 21^st century.” Some updates include building automation systems, optimizing heating/cooling systems and lighting for buildings, upgrading transformer systems, installing solar panels, and overhauling the ice arena to increase efficiency. The ice arena project will have a large bulk of the funds dedicated to it, with an estimated $5 million of replacements.

According to Letton, the project is prioritizing the most urgent issues across facilities, and she will be responsible for working with public works to align goals. Full implementation is set for the end of 2025. She’s excited for it to make energy use more efficient as well as bring utility costs down, which is one of her primary goals for the community.

Electric vehicles are also getting infrastructure updates, since in 2024, Letton and her team helped secure a vendor for installing electric vehicle chargers in new areas. The new recreation center and the Heavenly Village Parking Garage will get electric vehicle chargers. The city’s partnership with LakeLink means these electric chargers will also help support LakeLink’s new electric fleet of vehicles.

2025 will also see more implementation of previously established sustainability measures, such as more enforcement on the plastic water bottle ban and further outreach for the three-cart system and information on food waste and disposal.

It’s a major leap forward in a new direction for sustainability in Tahoe. “We live in an era where just picking up litter is not going to cut it anymore,” said Letton. “We need to make bigger and more comprehensive decisions that address the problems. There’s a lot of climate anxiety and climate despair for young people… but you can unequivocally say we have ambitious climate goals and are working towards them.”

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.