GREEN SHEET :: FEBRUARY 2011
MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH
This month we welcome Viridity Energy to CleanTECH San Diego's membership. Viridity Energy is paving the way for a new generation of demand response through its innovative distributed demand management software system and services, which transform large energy consumers into 24/7 virtual power plants. The company works with large institutions such as college campuses, federal and municipal complexes, military bases, transit systems, industrial companies and hospitals to optimize their portfolios of buildings and energy investments by creating unified power assets. These power assets are then sold in real-time into the wholesale energy market, allowing facility operators to maximize the monetization of their building and energy investments. http://viridityenergy.com/
Also joining CleanTECH San Diego is Solar Gard. Solar Gard's architectural, automotive and industrial films are manufactured by Bekaert Specialty Films, LLC, in San Diego, CA. With environmental responsibility as a core mission, Solar Gard has certified its carbon footprint and earned the title of Climate Action Leader. Its energy saving architectural solar control window films are proven carbon negative, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have been verified as having a net positive impact on the environment; Solar Gard products are exported from San Diego to more than 90 countries, visit: www.solargard.com.
In addition, we welcome the membership renewal of our partners at the clean tech practice at Luce Forward and at Moss Adams.
ADVOCACY
CleanTECH San Diego Participates in Clean Economy Summit in Washington, DC
CleanTECH San Diego's Jason Anderson participated in the Clean Economy Network's 2011 Summit and the Clean Energy Innovation Consortia DC fly-in. The Clean Economy Network is the largest national membership-based networking, educational, and advocacy organization focused on the advancement of the clean technology economy. The first annual, invite only, Summit provided participants with access to decision-makers from Congress, the Administration, and state and local governments to surface and prioritize policy proposals with the greatest potential to unleash economic growth and job creation in the sector, while also identifying market opportunities existing within current policy and political constraints. Speakers included Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Nancy Sutley, and U.S.Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. As part of the summit, Anderson was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion focused on the commercialization, deployment and manufacturing of clean technologies. Anderson joined a group of similar types of organizations throughout the country as part of the Clean Energy Innovation Consortia, a group of regional organizations sharing the common goal of supporting the development of the clean technology clusters in their regions. As part of the fly-in, the delegation met with the Department of Energy, ARPA-E, the White House Task Force on Advancing Regional Innovation Clusters, staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Representative Insell, aides to Senators Boxer (CA-D), Reed (RI-D), Kerry (MA-D), Reid (NV-D), Rockefeller (WV-D), and Durbin (IL-D). The meetings aimed to educate the Administration and Congress on efforts underway to develop clean technology economies throughout the United States. Anderson also met with Representative Brian Bilbray to update him on CleanTECH San Diego's efforts to develop and support the region's cleantech cluster.
CleanTECH San Diego Participating in ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit
The March 2011 Summit will convene the key players in the nation's energy innovation community to discuss the future of the clean economy. Participants include the nation's leading individuals and organizations in energy innovation, including: venture capital investors, technology entrepreneurs, large and small corporations with an interest in clean energy technologies, policymakers from the Administration and Congress, and government officials from the Department of Energy and ARPA-E. To register visit: http://www.ct-si.org/events/EnergyInnovation/.
SMART GRID
Ground Breaking Collaboration Unveiled
On January 31 Mayor Jerry Sanders joined Jim Waring and other clean energy leaders to announce Smart City San Diego, a collaborative combining the resources of a broad mix of organizations to develop and implement local initiatives that will improve the San Diego region's energy independence, empower consumers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and drive economic growth. Smart City San Diego is a bold, new collaborative among the City of San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric, General Electric, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego. Working together, these leaders from government, business, education and non-profit will maximize synergies to drive existing energy programs forward, identify new opportunities, embrace additional collaborators, and move the San Diego region beyond today's boundaries of sustainability. With the San Diego region currently preparing for one of the largest initial deployments of electric vehicles in the country, the first priority for Smart City San Diego is to expand current projects to implement a comprehensive electric vehicle infrastructure.
Working Group Tours UC San Diego Microgrid with CPUC Commissioner
On January 10 over 50 regional leaders from the private and public sectors attended the invitation-only Regional Stakeholder Working Group to tour UC San Diego's microgrid and engage CPUC Commissioner Nancy Ryan in a dialogue about the role of a digitized grid in the move to a clean energy economy. The second in a series of meetings led by CleanTECH San Diego and sponsored by SDG&E, the Working Group brings together community leaders to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with moving to a smart grid with a particular focus on creating a feedback loop. Chancellor Fox, SIO Director and CleanTECH Vice Chair Tony Haymet and a host of others heard from private sector leaders such as Viridity Energy and University experts such as Byron Washom and Jan Kleissl regarding the cutting edge work underway at UCSD. The next meeting, co-hosted by SANDAG and Ecotality is scheduled for March 30 with a focus on San Diego's leadership in electric vehicle innovation and adoption.
BIOFUELS
The EDGE Initiative continues to gear up for the first class of students in early spring. Course proposals are currently being reviewed and the partners are actively recruiting students to the training programs. A soon to be announced February meeting of the Industry Advisory Council will convene regional biofuels companies with representatives of the Department of Energy to discuss the future of the industry.
INTERNATIONAL CLUSTER SUPPORT
Australia
CleanTECH San Diego ended 2010 hosting its 1st Annual International CleanTECH Showcase and began 2011 with a continuation of broadening the international cleantech opportunities. On January 18, the Australian Trade Commission in partnership with CleanTECH San Diego hosted its G'Day USA Australia Clean Tech Event. This special event during the week-long program prominently featured Australia and San Diego leading the way in the algae biofuels revolution. This was part of a larger collaboration between the two countries in leading a proactive strategy to promote and facilitate biofuels investment as San Diego is identified as the leading location for algae biofuels in the United States. Quantas Airlines was the event lead sponsor and also joining the program were our partners at the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology.
Canada
On January 25, CleanTECH San Diego co-hosted an event at the Scripps Seaside Forum with the Canadian Consulate of San Diego. The delegation included Consul General David Fransen and other high-level Canadian government officials keen on identifying next steps stemming from the International CleanTECH Showcase and other strategic opportunities to collaborate in 2011.
United Kingdom
On February 17-18, CleanTECH San Diego and the United Kingdom Trade & Investment are co-hosting a West Coast CleanTECH Mission. This 2-day program will explore business development opportunities on both sides of the pond while delving into the current state of the San Diego clean tech sector. The sectors represented include biofuels, renewable energy and smart grid. Member companies Viridity Energy, Solar Gard, PCN Technology, DPR Constriction, OneRoof Solar and BDO are several of the featured San Diego companies. To register for this event contact: james.cummings@fco.gov.uk.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Greening San Diego
The data collection phase of the GHG Inventory Baselining project coordinated by the San Diego Foundation and ICLEI was completed in January. The USD student interns are in the process of completing drafts of the summary findings for our CleanTECH San Diego "Greening San Diego" partner cities, Santee and Lemon Grove, as well as Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Escondido and Oceanside. Padre Dam Municipal Water District received constructive comments back from the County Department of Environmental Health on the Recycled Water for Street Cleaners Project. PDMWD is in the process of making the requested revisions, and expects to complete and resubmit to the regulatory agencies for an end of February final review.
Street Lighting Work Group
Since publicly advertising its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Street Light Conversion Project Design-Build Contract in December, the City of San Diego has issued several Addenda. The final date for submission of proposals which will cover the retrofit of all of the city's 38,700 cobra-style streetlights in two phases has been extended to February17. In continuation of the momentum for our regional street lighting retrofit initiative as we transition into 2011, the following three objectives will be our primary focus:
- Continue providing support on street lighting retrofits to all cities/public agencies in the SDG&E service territory
- Development of a Regional Specification for acorn-style post-top street light retrofits
- Development of a Regional Specification for exterior or interior parking light retrofits (depending on group priority)
MEDIA AND OUTREACH
CleanTECH San Diego's Jason Anderson along with Steve Mayfield of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology and Barry Toyonaga of Kent Bioenergy were featured on the KPBS These Days program to discuss the clean technology job market in San Diego. http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/jan/17/where-are-green-jobs-san-diego. The three industry experts focused on the region's clean technology industry, where the green jobs are and the efforts behind the EDGE Initiative. http://www.cleantechsandiego.org/edge-initiative.html In the lead up to the President's State of the Union Address, KUSI TV featured CleanTECH San Diego's Holly Smithson in promoting the region's vibrant cluster of 800 cleantech companies and the roughly 40-thousand jobs they've generated as the rest of the economy struggles. http://www.kusi.com/story/13908174/bosh-pkg Chairman Jim Waring was featured in the Daily Transcript in a front page article on sustainability while Lisa Bicker co-authored a Union Tribune opinion editorial on green jobs with our colleagues at the San Diego Foundation.
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EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
FEBRUARY EVENTS
DistribuTECH Conference
FEB 01 2011 - FEB 03 2011
Learn More
Wind Power Finance & Investment Summit
FEB 02 2011 - FEB 04 2011
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CleanTECH San Diego Advocacy Meeting
FEB 07 2011
01:30PM - 03:00PM
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2nd Annual Next Generation Bio-Based Chemicals Summit.
FEB 14 2011 - FEB 17 2011
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CleanTECH San Diego Executive Committee
FEB 15 2011
07:30AM - 09:00AM
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UK Trade & Investment Roundtable
February 18 2011
12:30PM - 04:30PM
Learn More
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