Rolando Rubio III/Daily Journal From left, Brian Kawamoto,16, Joshua Lu,16, and Ellery Wong,16, leave information on how to fill out the energy and water conservation survey online for home owners who were not home Saturday. Home owner who fill out the survey are entered in a drawing for one of three free home energy audits.

Hoping to get ahead in the race to go green, the city of San Mateo put volunteers on foot throughout the North Shoreview neighborhood this weekend surveying residents about their environmental habits and household energy use.

SMART, or San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together, is a phased public outreach campaign kicked off last November. The campaign goal is to promote sustainable practices by educating people on how to change simple, daily behaviors so they can reduce energy use. By doing that, the city meets state mandates to lower carbon emissions by 2020.

No one knows yet what penalties will be imposed on agencies that do not meet the 2020 protocol. For that reason, San Mateo is starting early with an aggressive campaign. It also increases its chances for program funding.

The SMART campaign currently focuses on individuals and will eventually include schools and businesses. The city is educating residents on ways to reduce their carbon footprint in their everyday activities. It created a special Web site connected to its home page where people can find a carbon calculator, resources about global warming and a way to pledge to join the campaign to reduce emissions.

It has not been easy, said Christine Gilmore of San Mateo’s Community Development Department.

“We’re still really trying to reach out to the community,” Gilmore said.

Traffic to the city’s SMART Web site is slow, but Gilmore has high hopes it will pick up.

This weekend’s drive sent approximately 50 volunteers — mostly high school students — to between 200 and 300 homes in the North Shoreview neighborhood. Each resident was asked to do a live survey in which they would be asked about their home’s energy usage, like whether they use Energy Star appliances or if they have efficient windows. By gathering information about residents’ green habits, the city can create programs that will benefit the greatest number of people, Gilmore said.

“We’re hoping that with this information we’ll be getting a good snapshot of the city,” Gilmore said.

North Shoreview was chosen for the survey because its homes were built between the 1930s and 1950s. The neighborhood also has a good mix of single-family and multi-unit residences, Gilmore said.

The campaign is part of an ongoing city movement to be more environmentally friendly. The city was strongly encouraged to pursue green measures following the Sierra Club’s 2007 Cool Cities campaign. Local Sierra Club members asked cities to support the U.S. Cool Cities Climate Stabilization Declaration, a nationwide initiative to combat global warming through city-led pledges to reduce emissions and establish environmental standards.

San Mateo formed a green advisory committee that delivered recommendations for getting the community to go green earlier this year.

It also formed an internal “green team” composed of staff. The team is working to educate co-workers on the importance of carbon reduction and will continue with current recycling, green building and purchasing programs already in place, such as the voluntary green building program that encourages green point-rated and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified commercial, residential and civic development.

The city’s Main Library earned a gold LEED certification earlier this year.

As part of the SMART campaign, the city will make speakers available to present and discuss ways schools, civic organizations, community-based organizations, businesses and residents can all contribute to reducing San Mateo’s collective carbon footprint, according to the city’s Web site.

For more information go to www.cityofsanmateo.org/smart.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.