Sustainable Development Focus
RENEWABLES NOW - Apr 20 Wells Fargo & Co. has pledged to provide $200 billion in financing to sustainable businesses and projects by 2030, with more than half to cover clean technology and renewable energy transactions. The financial services company said in a statement that over $100 billion will support the transition to a low-carbon economy. This portion will go towards funding clean technologies, renewables, green bonds, and alternative transportation. The rest will back firms and projects focused on sustainable agriculture, recycling, conservation, and other environmentally beneficial activities.
FACILITY EXECUTIVE - Apr 23 The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded the new main building at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford with LEED Platinum certification. The hospital, located in the Bay Area, opened in December 2017 and is one of just five new hospitals — and the second children’s hospital — in the world to earn the USGBC’s Platinum designation. Innovative systems were built to achieve the highest possible sustainability standards and to reduce energy and water use. As a result of these systems, Packard Children’s overall energy consumption is expected to be reduced by 60 percent, and its water consumption is expected to drop by nearly 40 percent compared to regional hospital averages.
SOLAR INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - Apr 23 Generations LLC, a provider of retirement and assisted living communities, has added a 527.8-kilowatt solar PV system at Paradise Village, a resort-style assisted living and memory care community with 394 units in National City in San Diego County. The project is expected to produce approximately 1 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, roughly 40 percent of the campus’ annual electricity usage. In addition, the hybrid solar and battery storage system will provide an estimated cost-savings of $250,000 in both regular and peak demand usage.
SOLAR POWER WORLD - Apr 19 San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), which provides a variety of services for the 42 school districts, 124 charter schools, and five community college districts in the county, and Borrego Solar Systems celebrated the operation of a 1.05-megawatt solar carport system at its main campus on Linda Vista Drive. The solar power system is expected to save SDCOE $282,000 each year and provide enough energy to meet approximately 60 percent of the facility’s electricity demand.
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER - Apr 17 Proponents of an initiative to give voters the power to weigh in on whether sizable development projects in Irvine could move forward failed to submit enough signatures by the April 16th deadline. Last year, a group of residents, Irvine for Responsible Growth, submitted to the city an initiative “to give the people of Irvine control of their future.” Their idea was to require developers to get voter approval for any project adding significant traffic, 40 or more housing units, or 10,000 square feet of non-residential use and that would need general plan or zoning changes.
LOS ANGELES TIMES - Apr 23 Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday he would "absolutely" consider extending rent restrictions in Los Angeles to cover newly built apartments if California voters repeal a state law that prohibits it. Garcetti joined tenant and community activists at a news conference outside City Hall to back a proposed ballot initiative that would roll back the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which bans cities and counties from capping rent increases on apartments built after 1995. In cities like Los Angeles, which already had rent control when the law was passed, the restrictions apply to buildings constructed years earlier. Repealing the state law would allow local governments to impose rent control on newer buildings, a longtime goal of tenant groups.
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS - Apr 19 L.A.’s transit agency will deploy a total of 40 zero-emission buses in an effort to electrify the Metro Orange Line. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro) said it will increase the number of previously approved buses from 35 to 40 within the next two years, according to agency spokesman Dave Sotero. Aiming to drive down emissions and improve public health, the agency will purchase the 40 buses for about $58.5 million from New Flyer America, a U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian bus maker. Eight electric charging stations will be added to the Orange Line stations, according to L.A. Metro. The move is part of an effort to convert L.A. Metro’s 2,200 buses to zero-emission vehicles, a plan that will cost about $1 billion.
