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LABC Partners With Governor on California’s Renewable Roadmap
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At left: At the Governor’s Conference on Local Renewable Energy at UCLA in July 2011, Governor Edmond G. Brown addresses hundreds of energy and business experts on the need for 12,000 MW of renewable power generated within the local power distribution grid. At right: Carla Peterson, Commissioner, California Energy Commission; Wade Crowfoot, Governor's Office of Planning and Research; Doug Condon, Safeway; Aaron Johnson, Pacific Gas and Electric; Roger Kim, Asian Pacific Environment Network; Mary Leslie, LABC; and Thomas Martinez, International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers speak on the Values Plenary, and the need to develop themes and outline different values underlying approaches to deploying distributed generation. (Above photo courtesy of UCLA Luskin Center).
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On July 25-26, the LABC played an integral role in both organizing and participating in The Governor’s Conference on Local Renewable Energy Resources hosted by the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA, the Center responsible for the key studies informing the CLEAN LA Solar Program we’ve been developing for the past year and a half. Governor Brown convened a select group of industry, academic and nonprofit leaders in a working conference designed to develop California’s path to 12,000 MW of renewable energy by 2020.
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VIP Reception Hosted by LABC
LABC hosted a reception for the Governor’s Local Renewable Energy Conference speakers and participants at the UCLA Fowler Museum on July 25, 2011. Clockwise from left: State Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield; Wendy Greuel, LA City Controller; and Jacob Lipa, PsomasFMG; Michael Picker, Conference Organizer and Senior Advisor to the Governor for Renewable Energy Facilities; Brad Cox, Trammell Crow Company; Jan Perry, LA City Council; Mary Leslie, LABC; JR DeShazo, UCLA Luskin Center; Gil Sperling, U.S. Department of Energy.
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In addition to LABC Chairman Jacob Lipa, LABC Institute Chairman Brad Cox and many LABC members contributing to the panels over the two days of the conference, we are enthused that the feed-in tariff, or the CLEAN LA Solar program as we refer to it, was positioned as one of the key ways to achieve the Governor’s vision for the state’s energy future.The July 26 Los Angeles Times article, "Gov. Brown pushes 12-gigawatt clean-power goal" by Tiffany Hsu, connects LABC’s 600 MW CLEAN LA Solar initiative to the Governor’s goal to generate local renewable energy.
The LABC hosted a VIP Reception on July 25th for panelists and conference hosts at the UCLA Fowler Museum, attended by industry leaders, the Governor’s staff and key City officials including Controller Wendy Greuel and Council President Pro Tempore Jan Perry. Councilwoman Perry spoke to the audience of over 250 guests, reconfirming her confidence in LA meeting Governor Jerry Brown’s ambitious plans for 12,000 MW of renewable power by renewing her call for the LA DWP to implement the CLEAN LA Solar Plan to allow businesses, nonprofits, and residents to install solar on their rooftops and sell the energy back to the electrical grid for a profit.
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Clockwise from upper left: Romel Pascual, Mayor’s Office of Energy and Environment; Joseph DeTuno, Next Century Associates; Mary Leslie, LABC; and Keith Parker, UCLA with keynote speaker Thom Mayne, Founder & Design Director, Morphosis Architects. The Honorable Jan Perry, LA City Councilwoman; Pouria Abassi, LA Convention Center. Andy Cohen, Gensler; Julius Shulman Emerging Talent Award Winner, Phillip Ramirez; Brooke Lauter, Arden Realty. The Honorable Wendy Greuel, LA City Controller; Jacob Lipa, PsomasFMG; Joseph DeTuno, Next Century Associates; Charlie Mutillo, Morley Builders; Mary Leslie.
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On June 30, LABC hosted the 41st Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards to a sold-out crowd of over 600 at the JW Marriott at LA Live. This year the community impact award recognized more than a billion dollars of capital investment in health, science and engineering that together will transform the built landscape and pave the way to cutting-edge research and medical advancements. Six projects at elite institutions – UCLA, USC, City of Hope, Children’s Hospital, Cedars Sinai and CalTech – won the prestigious community impact award at the LA Business Council’s annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards.
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Clockwise from upper left: Nadine Watt, Watt Companies; Lori Tierney, Unisource Solutions; Ron Frantz, Haworth; Sheldon Kimber, Recurrent Energy; Jan Karl, Rudolph and Sletton; Rob Jernigan, Gensler; Michael Rosenfeld, Next Century Associates; The Honorable Ed Reyes, LA City Council.
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Pritzker Prize winning architect Thom Mayne delivered the keynote address. He discussed his plans to build a zero emissions office for his firm, Morphosis, near the Exposition Rail Line, 100 yards away from the station.
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Clockwise from left: Global Green's 2011 Millennium awardees included Brad Cox, Trammell Crow Company, and Mary Leslie, LABC; Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Family Foundation; Matt Peterson, Global Green; Mark Ruffalo; and Ed Begley Jr. (Above photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages, Courtesy of Global Green USA)
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In June, LABC was honored with the prestigious California Environmental Leadership Award by Global Green USA, alongside Wendy Schmidt; Mark Ruffalo; and Ed Begley, Jr. We are the first business group to receive this honor from Global Green and it underscores LABC’s groundbreaking work to bring together businesses and community leaders in support of significant environmental achievements such as the 2009 Los Angeles Green Building Ordinance and the upcoming CLEAN LA rooftop solar program.
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Clockwise from upper left: Margareth Harper, Parsons; Linda Bernhardt, Greenberg Traurig; Lisa Jackson, EPA; Mary Leslie, LABC; Renata Simril, Jones Lang LaSalle; William Daley, White House Chief of Staff; Michael Mahdesian, Servicon Systems; Nancy Sutley, White House Council for Environmental Quality; Mary Leslie.
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LABC leads the Energy and Sustainability groups at the annual Access DC trip organized by the LA Area Chamber of Commerce. The highlight of this year’s May 2-4 trip was meeting with the Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who has declared driving down the cost of solar as a priority of his administration. Secretary Chu inquired if LA will have a solar feed-in tariff program and we assured him that LA would, describing our key challenge -- scaling a large enough program so that all Angelenos can participate. Secretary Chu was excited by the idea of a solar program for LA and was supportive by explaining the work he's doing with grid connection, solar entitlement zoning, and lowering the cost of solar installation. He said he believes that solar and wind can reach parity with fossil fuels within ten years.
While in DC, we held receptions for key administration officials including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson who was heartened that President Obama followed up his briefing on the killing of Osama Bin Laden with a long discussion of how transitioning this country to clean energy is still a top priority. We had another reception for Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council for Environmental Quality, and we had the opportunity to brief her and her staff on the work we’ve been doing, particularly our most recent Making a Market study.
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Upcoming Events
Tuesday: 9/20/11
Executive Committee Meeting
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Psomas
Featured guest: Superintendent John Deasy, LAUSD
Wednesday: 10/19/11
Legislative Committee Meeting
12:00 – 1:30 pm
Latham & Watkins
Featured guest:
Lynn Shaw, District Director, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfeld
Tuesday: 10/20/11
LABC Institute Board Meeting and
Energy Efficiency Tour of Century City
3:00-5:30pm
Trammell Crow
Featured guests:
CPUC Commissioner Mark Ferron; Tom Steyer, Managing Partner Farallon Capital Management, LLC (Invited)
November 2 or 3, 2011
VIP Reception for the 2011 Mayoral Housing, Transportation & Jobs Summit and LABC Institute Launch
Home of Richard Ziman
Featuring – John Perez, Speaker of the Assembly, State of CA (Invited); and Michael Northrop, Program Director, Rockefellar Brothers Fund
Tuesday: 11/15/11
Executive Committee Meeting
5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Trammell Crow Company
Wednesday: 11/16/11
2011 Mayoral Housing, Transportation & Jobs Summit
7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
UCLA Anderson School of Management, Korn Hall
Featured and Invited Speakers:
John Porcari, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, US Department of Transportation
Michael Rossi, Senior Advisor for Jobs and Business Development, Governor’s Office
Tonya Stockton, Senior Vice President & Manager, Community Lending and Investment, Wells Fargo
Tony Salazar, President, West Coast Operations, McCormack, Baron, Salazar
Michael Rosenfeld, Executive Manager, Next Century Associates, LLC
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Changing Chairs
Since February of this year, LABC has been under the leadership of our newly-elected chairman, Jacob Lipa. He is the president of Psomas and Executive Vice President of PsomasFMG, a leading engineering and solar development firm. From the beginning he has been an active and enthusiastic leader in LABC’s key events and committee meetings. Of his first months in his new role, Lipa said, “Stepping into LABC Chairman role has been an enjoyable challenge. I’m excited to see what we can accomplish as leaders in the push to make LA a truly solar city.” Lipa added, “I’m equally eager to pursue LABC’s continuing and vital work around energy efficiency, workforce housing, and education.”
Brad Cox, LABC’s immediate past Chairman, hasn’t gone far, as he was voted in as the founding Chairman of LABC’s newly-designated 501 (c) 3 research and education arm, the LABC Institute. The Institute will be publically launched in November, but has already been hard at work developing groundbreaking research on solar in LA. “It was an honor and a meaningful experience to be LABC’s chairman for 6 years,” said Cox. “In my new role, I’m excited to focus on smart and compelling ways to foster the bold and influential research and education we’re producing at the LABC Institute.”
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Advocacy Tracker
CEQA Reform
The LABC is organizing a taskforce to define a position on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reform recommendations. CEQA was designed to protect the environment and ensure smarter development. While CEQA has resulted in many positive gains, the compliance process has also become so expensive and time consuming that it sometimes acts as a barrier to investment in new sustainable infrastructure. We aim to recommend ways that CEQA could be refocused on environmental priorities while providing lead agencies with more efficient approaches, reducing burdens on judicial dockets and minimizing duplicative regulations.
The LABC has also recently submitted a letter of support to Governor Jerry Brown’s office for exemption of CEQA on solar PV development projects, as it presents a number of challenges and obstacles to solar development, such as with the permitting approval processes. This is a critical move to help meet the Governor’s SBX12, which requires public and private utilities to obtain 33 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.
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Partner Event
Tuesday: 10/4/11
The 40th Annual Benjamin S. Crocker Symposium on Real Estate Law and Business 2011
JW Marriott in Downtown Los Angeles
Register by Thursday, December 22 for Early Bird Specials
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