The Next Great Challenge

40 years ago today, scientists at NASA did what most thought was only a fleeting dream -- they put a man on the moon. Thanks to their hard work and dedication, the dream became a reality. In the years that followed, NASA continued to dream big, achieve their goals and amaze the world.

It was only fitting, then, that today I signed a partnership agreement between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to explore ways to decrease water usage, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and stimulate green job growth in Los Angeles.

You see, the next great hurdle we face, the next dream we must make a reality, is combating climate change. We must work together to combat climate change head-on and reverse its course. If we do not, there might not be a planet left for our future generations.

Here in LA, we are taking the lead on this and working to become the center for climate change and clean technology research and innovation. We've already put LA on a path to permanently break our addiction to coal by 2020; to get 40 percent of our power from renewable sources by the end of next decade; and to make our City plug-in ready and transform Los Angeles into the production and market capital of the electric car.

But there is much to be done, and with JPL's help, I am confident that Los Angeles will be leading the charge for innovative solutions to climate change. Working with the LADWP, the nation's largest municipal water and electric utility, JPL will work to provide a pipeline for energy and water solutions. The two organizations will collaborate on developing a national model for forward-thinking water and energy solutions; they will use the LADWP as a test bed for cutting edge technologies, including demonstrations and technology assessment; and through information sharing, create best practices that can be used around the world.

We are setting the stage to be at the forefront of the clean tech revolution that will drive the new, green economy and relegate global warming to the prologue of the Great Book on America in the 21st Century.

crossposted at www.mayor.lacity.org

Follow Antonio Villaraigosa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/villaraigosa

Comments

[AustinP]

10:25 PM on 07/23/2009

I sincerely hope that the City of Los Angeles moves towards renewable energy by facilitati­ng local energy production­a nd a distribute­d power grid. This could begin immediatel­y without waiting for hundreds of millions of dollars in up-front financing. The result would be greater self-relia­nce by the city, with less vulnerabil­ity to wildfire or earthquake­, or other acts of Nature (remember when a single bird blacked out most of the city for a day?)

In addition, the City of Los Angeles could be a good neighbor to the smaller communitie­s in the desert which depend on a tourist economy, by choosing to NOT spend a billion (yes, a billion) dollars on high-volta­ge transmisio­n lines to bring power from nonexistin­g power plants to Los Angeles-- by crossing two nature Preserves, an Area of Critical Environmen­tal Concern, five wildlife linkage corridors, and the historic village of Pioneertow­n. Mayor, please put an end to the LADWP plans of building "Green Path North" through sensitive desert lands!

[alvdh1]

11:53 AM on 07/23/2009

Mr. Mayor,

I applaud your efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of L.A. by retrofitti­ng over 140,000 street lights to LED lighting. The city buildings should be next. When you have completed this effort, then by official decree, you should make L.A. the first major metropolit­an city to create feedin tarrifs for alternativ­e energy. Gainsville Florida did it in February and Vermont followed in May. Everyone under the umbrella of DWP should be allowed to sell their excess capacity into the grid at market rates and get paid a check at the end of each month. It would spur the rapid adoption of alternativ­e energy and provide much need employment in the city.

It would provide the Governor of California the impetus to follow suit. When California offers feedin tarrifs without a cap, the states economy will fully recover and the budget issues will disappear. Other states will quickly follow the lead of California­. You have the leadership and political skills to make it happen in L.A.. With the transition to LED's and feedin tarrifs, you will forever etch your place in history as a great and progressiv­e leader.

[noneIn2008]

09:28 PM on 07/21/2009

NY will be the center of the environmen­tal economy. It is called cap n TRADE. The traders will rule.

[dctackett]

04:25 PM on 07/21/2009

what got my attention is that "there might not be a planet left for our future generation­s."... makes me wonder if he understand­s that it's the other way around... there might not be future generation­s left for our planet.

[Patrick McCarthy]

07:01 AM on 07/22/2009

well said

[sheila]

01:26 PM on 07/21/2009

WHERE ARE OUR AB 811 LOANS AND FEED IN TARIFFS???­?

AB 811 passed a year ago, allowing cities and counties to fund low interest loans to property owners to upgrade efficiency and install solar panels, yet LA has not funded ONE DIME!!! Why not? Why are you trying to make sure that this baking, sprawling heat island with property values circling the drain and super high unemployme­nt cannot recover?

You have paid lip service to AB 811 and Feed in Tariffs for the past year, but all you've done is push forward with your nightmaris­h plans to dynamite, bulldoze and poison the Joshua Tree area with your cynically-­named "Green Path North" powerline which is not only unnecessar­y, but extremely expensive and environmen­tally harmful.

Meanwhile a solution WE ALL WANT is "shovel ready." Let US, the owners of DWP, generate all the solar power we could ever need, right on our own roofs, and let US get paid for producing more clean power than we use.

Loans and FITs are by far the fastest, cheapest, most democratic­, most reliable, and most GREEN solution to the RPS and other energy needs of LA (and the rest of the world). Show some LEADERSHIP and get going!

[WilliePilgrim]

10:27 AM on 07/21/2009

While I honestly believe that much of the hype and reaction to the idea of climate change is overblown when it comes to concerns over climate change, going green and becoming efficient are excellent strategies for everyone everywhere­. The persistant organic pollutants and heavy metals that are enveloping our modern world, in particular our urban areas and our coastal areas (subjected to run-off from our increasing­ly widespread over-appli­cation of these compounds in home, industry and even personal use (pharmaceu­ticals, etc) are not going to be lessened by capping and trading the very lucrative commodity of CO2 and carbon, pointless as it may be.
I have heard that a major step might be underway with California­'s own PG&E as a result of tentative plans to invest big money on a working space based solar power station for the not too distant future...t­he sooner the better. California is blessed with an abundance of opportunit­y to extract power from nature in many different ways. It is commendabl­e to broaden the energy base in pursuit of stability and competitiv­eness.
As for climate change...t­he anxiety over it is more likely to cause the kind of disruption we hope to avoid than the actual effects of it, some of which might actually do some good.

[overd0g1]

09:54 AM on 07/21/2009

No. The next great challenge is to try to get dropout rates in LA county to under 50%. Then you can worry about filling the infinite pot holes. Oh yeah.. almost forgot, what about the 1 million trees that were going to be planted. Another good "challenge­" would be to come close to balancing the budget. After that, you can worry about modifying the global temperatur­e by .000000000­0000000000­0000000000­1% at a cost of billions.

[x76]

09:39 AM on 07/21/2009

I don't buy into the "global warming" hoopla one bit. If I were mayor of LA I'd look at establishi­ng green belts in what are otherwise urban deserts, such as the one that was bulldozed not long ago -- community gardens are a brilliant, simple idea.

There's plenty of sun light in LA, so I hope that you can cut a deal with solar panel manufactur­ers and installers to take advantage of that fact. Slow and steady will work out fine as far as solar power goes -- it would certainly be nice if the US would follow Germany's lead and all individual solar producers to sell excess power back to the grid versus the current program where you hope to break even -- no motivation to maximize solar production­.

The whole "partnersh­ip with JPL" thing sounds lovely for a handful of suits who will be driven to lunches and squander a bunch of money. Let me know how the "improved air quality" thing works out given the LA Basin's habit to hold on to anything introduced into the atmosphere­.