Here are your last wEEkly updates for 2016 - and the last one from me specifically as we will be bringing on a new Best Practices Coordinator in 2017! We hope you enjoy your holiday break!

Currents: Winter 2016

In this issue of Currents, we feature a broad range of articles that highlight local projects, celebrate success, and discuss emergent trends:

News and Opportunities

Bill Gates and Investors Worth $170B Launching a Fund for Energy Innovation
Bill Gates is leading a more than $1 billion fund focused on fighting climate change by investing in clean energy innovation. He was among 28 wealthy individuals and families signed on to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group broadly committed to investing in this area.

CA Agency Recommends Low-Income Energy and Water Legislation and Task Force
On December 14th, the CEC approved the SB 350 Barriers Study mandated by SB 350 to address barriers for low-income households and disadvantaged communities to participate in energy efficiency and renewables opportunities. The California Housing Partnership will work with partners on legislative and regulatory efforts to use this study's findings to advance transformative equity goals and metrics, energy and water program alignment, the availability of one-stop technical services, and effective financing pilots designed for low-income rental housing in California.

Job Opportunities: Redwood Coast Energy Authority
Redwood Coast Energy Authority is recruiting for multiple positions including Director of Finance & HR, Director of Power Resources, and Demand Side Management Programs Project Manager.

Job Opportunity: Chief Executive Officer, The Valley Clean Energy Alliance
Yolo County is conducting a recruitment on behalf of The Valley Clean Energy Alliance for the Chief Executive Officer position. Applications due January 20, 2017.

Calendar
Click the Calendar link to view all upcoming events.

1/25-1/26 (Sacramento) California Climate Change Symposium 2017
This forum aims to share cutting-edge research addressing the impacts of climate change on the state to inform the state's strategies and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to develop programs to safeguard California from a changing climate.

2/2/17 (St. Louis, MO) New Partners for Smart Growth Conference
Early-bird registration has been extended to December 16th for the 2017 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference. This conference is the nation's largest smart growth and sustainability event and has been named one of 12 conferences not to miss by Planetizen.

3/16-3/19 (Yosemite National Park) Yosemite Policymakers Conference
Join mayors, city council members, county supervisors, city managers, and high-level department heads for the 26th Annual Yosemite Policymakers Conference. This popular conference always features a timely and inspirational program designed to provide the tools and support policymakers need to implement innovative solutions to address society's most pressing challenges. This year's conference will be no different with its focus on sustaining our progress and protecting the American dream.

Resources and Reports

DOE Better Buildings Financing Navigator
The Navigator is an online tool that helps public and private sector organizations find financing solutions for energy efficiency projects.

A Greater LA: A Framework for Climate Action
This project led by the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability was recently released and provides a set of curated, synthesized, and regionally specific recommendations across five climate impact areas: Energy, Transportation & Land Use, Water, Public Health, and Ocean & Coastal Resources.

The Case for Healthy Places: Improving Health Outcomes Through Placemaking
This report uses the idea of placemaking as a framework for describing how transforming public spaces can improve health outcomes. Even beyond the tangible benefits that placemaking projects can yield, the very process of bringing community members and stakeholders together to shape a place can have powerful social benefits that in turn connect to positive health outcomes.

If clean energy and sustainability efforts are so expensive and such boondoggles, why are corporations embracing them? Could it be that businesses have found otherwise? The answer could come this week at this conference in Washington D.C., or, perhaps, the bright minds at GE and other corporations know.

From General Electric's 2011 annual report:

"Clean energy goes in and out of focus for governments and consumers. But, at GE, we are steadfast in our investing. In 2011, we had $21 billion of clean energy revenue, growing twice as fast as the Company average. Ecomagination drives growth because we are solving problems for our customers... We demonstrate every day that, through innovation, we can meet societal needs and do it proﬁtably."

GE has discovered it can make money by providing clean energy solutions to others. Other businesses, such as AT&T have found they can save millions of dollars through energy-efficiency measures (check out AT&T's 2010 annual report).

ALCOA places so much value on sustainability that it ties employee compensation packages to environmental goals. " if you want to get well-compensated at Alcoa, you need to be pulling the sustainability lever hard," the company's sustainability chief, Kevin Anton, told reporter Tilde Herrera in this GreenBiz.com article.

Maybe Bill Gates was right when he said the United States should triple clean energy investment. Here is more. Making money, saving money and preserving the environment. What's not to like?

You Tube Video: By GEreports

Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Sustainability: A new profit center for corporations