Sonoma County officials made their first pitch for a public power agency on Tuesday night to the Sebastopol City Council, with seven more stops to go in a campaign to enroll eight cities in a plan to supplant PG&E as their sole source of electricity.

Sebastopol burnished its liberal credentials Tuesday by becoming the second city in California to require solar power systems on new homes and commercial buildings.

Sebastopol appears on track to become the second city in California to require solar power systems on all new housing developments, as well as new commercial buildings.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement that permanently privatizes operation of the county’s central landfill west of Cotati but keeps the site in public ownership.

Five months from now, Sonoma County intends to launch its program to become the power supplier to 220,000 local homes and businesses, displacing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. from its position of energy dominance.

Viewing a public file at the Santa Rosa courthouse will cost $10 under a proposal from the state’s judicial branch that is drawing fire from critics who say it will limit access to public information.

Greenhouse gas emissions declined in Sonoma County in 2011 for the third straight year, reflecting an expansion of renewable energy sources and a down economy, which lowered demand for power and transportation. Still, Sonoma County’s goal of reducing emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2015 remains elusive, officials said Tuesday.

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission on Thursday OK’d a plan for moving the citywide emissions deadline to 2020 and easing some restrictions.

Ann Hancock is laboring to reduce the output of automobile exhaust and other greenhouse gases in Sonoma County. She knows some people have doubts about whether even the county’s best efforts will have any impact on global warming. Why bother? See how she answers in this installment of “Sonoma Stories,” a series of profiles on people in our community.