Statewide LG EE Best Practices: Weekly Update

Here are your wEEkly updates:

1. Cap and trade news: On Tuesday, Governor Brown announced a plan led by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to extend cap-and-trade beyond its current expiration in 2020, to 2050. Read the plan, or get overviews from Utility Dive and the Los Angeles Times.

2. AB 802/Benchmarking Developments: California Energy Commission (CEC) staff will conduct a public workshop to seek input on staff’s proposed draft regulations to implement the building energy use data access, benchmarking, and public disclosure provisions of Assembly Bill 802.

3. AB 802 Background: A prior CEC workshop on this was March 25^th; a partial recap is available here. (Refresher on AB 802 available here.)

4. NBI’s October ZNE Forum: the New Buildings Institute’s “Getting to Zero” Zero Net Energy Forum this October 12^th-14th. Click to learn more about topics and speakers, and register.

5. EE Coordinating Committee Updates: The CA EE Coordinating Committee (CAEECC) had their 7^th meeting this week. The agenda, meeting documents, and how to participate in future meetings is available in this CAEECC Update summary.

6. $20M Available from Federal Agencies: Looking for funding? More than $20 million is available to state, local and tribal governments for climate change health impacts, coastal ecosystem resiliency, clean diesel, and climate and agriculture projects.

7. EE management motivators for business: Promoting energy management to your business community? This Environmental Leader article shares some leading reasons that the private sector is deepening their engagement in energy management - including market volatility, cost savings and public interest in sound climate and energy policies.

8. New technologies for ZNE: The California Energy Commission approved six grants July 13th focused on energy efficiency with $8 million awarded for technologies and measures designed to achieve zero net energy (ZNE) in new affordable housing and multifamily and commercial buildings.

9. More on zero net energy: At this year’s SEEC Forum, we asked California’s cities and counties to share with us how they are using innovative technologies to find deep energy savings in their buildings – and it turned out speakers wanted to speak to using technology and design to push toward a zero net energy goal. Learn more about their best practices shared in this CURRENTS article (and get a link to watch their Forum presentations online!).

10. Reaching the EJ Community: A number of cities are deepening their focus on environmental justice issues through the use of target “green zone” neighborhoods. Learn more about best practices in the use of green zones at this Statewide Green Zones Convening event July 28th in Los Angeles.

11. More on environmental justice and EE: For more on environmental justice best practices, see this recent CURRENTS article highlighting best practices shared by California EJ leaders (including why EE is a foundational EJ community engagement resource).

12. Sonoma and Woodlake Solar: Congratulations to Sonoma County and Tulare County’s Woodlake Unified School District for the approval of California Energy Commission (CEC) loans to install solar photovoltaics (PV) in their buildings.

13. Benefits from DERs: A new study overseen by the CEC in partnership with Southern California Edison finds over $300 million in benefits from distributed energy resources (DERs) in the San Joaquin Valley.

14. Job announcement: The San Luis Obispo County Department of Planning & Building is offering an exciting career opportunity for Senior Planner in the Energy unit. Learn more here.

15. Job announcements: The City of Chula Vista is inviting applications for the positions of Senior Conservation Specialist and Recycling Specialist I. Get descriptions, and links to apply here.

As always, you can keep track of relevant events by connecting to the EE Events Calendar, and find more resources being added daily on the EECoordinator website – including past WEEkly Updates.

That’s all for this week!

Wellness Wednesday: Wait, What the WWTF?

It’s easy to take what seem like the simple things in life, like running water, for granted. You turn on the faucet and out it comes. You flush the toilet and there it goes. Your sprinklers go off like clockwork. I was taught the importance of water conservation (e.g. turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth and whatnot) but not until a recent visit to the City ofWoodlake’s Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF) did I truly grasp the consequences of my actions and the ‘big picture’ when it comes to water use.

A waste water treatment facility is the destination for all waste water that travels through our complex sewer systems. This can be from our homes (toilets, baths, showers, kitchens, sinks, etc.), industry, and storm water runoff. A lovely combination of human waste, animal waste, oil and grease, and whatever else finds its way into the system go through a series of processes at the facility in order to treat it so that it may be discharged into a body of water, used as irrigation, or even put back into the groundwater supply. That is the overly simplified explanation so you can visit good ol’ Wikipedia for some great diagrams. The largest gag reflex point of Courtney and my tour of Woodlake’s WWTF would have to have been at the very beginning where solid wastes that cannot proceed through the treatment facility are disposed of into the trash to be taken to the dump. Nothing was even processing at the time we stood there but I could only imagine. Close second was standing on the catwalk over the bubbling waste water as it was being treated – see photos for full effect. The most amazing part of our tour was that while I was thoroughly disgusted, I was also equally fascinated.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that these complex processes to treat waste water take a huge amount of energy. My personal adventures in benchmarking municipal energy use and seeing the utility bills related to running these facilities caused my jaw to drop. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), ‘municipal water supply and waste water treatment systems are among the most energy-intensive facilities owned and are operated by local governments, accounting for about 35% of energy used by municipalities’. You can’t deny the obvious link between water and energy; in fact, this is something the VIEW Partnership hopes to address in the coming year. The City of Woodlake wisely incorporated energy efficiency measures into the development of their treatment facility which will help with operation costs.

I think it goes without saying that these facilities are not only related to energy but also to our health. Without these treatment facilities…well, I don’t need to spell it out - just think about it. Proper collection, treatment, and disposal of waste water are crucial for human and environmental health. Water contamination can lead to cholera, typhoid, parasites, and Hepatitis – just to name a few illnesses.  

My visit to Woodlake’s facility was a reminder to be cautious as to what I put down the drain and to be thankful for our municipalities for allowing us safer and healthier lives.  Hats off to you, Woodlake, and congrats on the grand opening of your new facility!

PHOTOS (from C. Kalashian)