Green Options

LA County Sheriffs stuck driving Crown Vics are about to be left feeling tragically un-hip. Their Board of Sups just approved a deal with BMW to lease 17 fully electric MINI Coopers.

Approved on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will lease the MINI Es for only $10 a month. With a market lease rate of $850, automaker BMW offered up the bargain price in exchange for deputy’s feedback.

By Leslie Berliant
Originally published on June 17, 2009, at SolveClimate

By the middle of next year, the nine campuses that make up the nation’s largest community college system plan to be completely energy self-sufficient.

It’s a huge step, and it will begin saving money immediately.

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) started down this path in 2001, the year voters approved the first part of $5.7 billion in bond funding to renovate the campuses.

The LACCD Board of Trustees was thinking about much-needed modernization work and its first new construction in 35 years, but it was also thinking ahead. It passed a sustainable building policy mandating that all new buildings that use 50% or more of bond funding be LEED certified. The board had previously developed a renewable energy plan that aimed for a minimum 10% renewable energy standard.

At the time, the trustees were afraid that anything beyond that would be too costly, says Larry Eisenberg, executive director of Facilities, Planning and Development for the LACCD.

The system’s chancellor and the implementation team saw greater potential, though.

Liz Thompson recently introduced us to Further Soap, a biodegradable soap crafted from glycerin left behind in the bio-fuel making process.  She shares the fascinating story of a husband and wife team who find a way to transform grease from Los Angeles restaurants into automobile bio-diesel and eventually into Bergamot-scented hand soap.

If you thought this “perfect sustainable circle” couldn’t possible get any better…it just did.  For each bottle of Further Soap you purchase on Wednesday April 22, you will receive one bottle free. And you don’t even have to pay for shipping!

There are always sooooooo many events going on during the week of Earth Day, which is technically on Wednesday, Aprill 22nd, it’s hard to know which to choose. But at least there’s a searchable database that contains what appears to be a complete listing – there are 49 events within 25 miles of my 90401 zip code.

A few look particularly interesting, like the Soyjoy-sponsored Battle of the Chefs: Eco-cuisine. Each chef is charged with creating three different soy-based dishes on site, with the winner scooping up a $15,000 prize package (wanna bet there’s a lot of soy products in it?) There’s even a celebrity judge (Julianna Moore) – it is LA after all – to taste the well-known chefs’ concoctions. The best news is that you can to, if you go to the event on the 22nd.

So, I attended the Green LA Coalition and Liberty Hill-sponsored event meant to let us all know how the billions headed for California will be spent. The verdict?

For small businesses, like mine, and nonprofits, it might be tough to get in on the action unless you’re prepared to work as a government contractor, which requires jumping through many hoops. But, if you are willing/able to do so, check out Grants.gov, a searchable listing of what’s available.

While chasing down LA’s finest hot dogs I stumbled on a great new project in Los Angeles.

There’s a new Loft Community popping up and it’s really exciting. Live/work spaces are automatically desirable to anyone with kids. The day I became a mother there was an intense need to be near my kids, to keep them close. I didn’t realize how sustainable my decision to stay home was. I’d fogotten about commutes, dry cleaning and pantyhose within moments of changing my first diaper.

There’s more than $50 billion coming your way, Californians!

That’s the amount that the California Budget Project expects the State and its residents to receive. The goal is the creation of 400,000 jobs, many of them “green jobs”. The funding comes none too soon, since California’s unemployment rate hit 10.5% in February.

But how will that money be spent in Los Angeles? The Green LA Coalition and the Liberty Hill Foundation seek to answer that question on Friday, April 3rd at “The Federal Stimulus: What it means for Los Angeles and the Environment”.

Working at home sounds great, doesn’t it? With the average Los Angeles commute topping 30 minutes each way, think of what you could do with that extra time. And think of what the environment could do without all of those emissions.

A new report from the World Wildlife Fund indicates that non-manufacturing companies could cut their carbon footprint in half by allowing telework. With more and more companies looking to reduce their eco-impact, a shift towards telecommuting would be a big step forward.

But what about all of those meetings?

At least in California, that’s where some of it’s going - $10 million dollars to be exact. The money will be used to fund the Green Corps, a program that will provide training for underprivileged youth to learn jobs in green construction, energy, and technology. The funding will be matched by an additional $10 million from public-private partnerships.

Announced by Gov. Schwarzenegger last week, the program provides for 1,000 youth, ages [...]

You might just think of it as Sunday, but this particular Sunday, March 22nd, has a larger importance – it’s World Water Day, an international day of observance and action, drawing attention to the fact that over 1 billion people that share this planet do not have access to clean drinking water.

Born from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, World Water Day has a different theme every year. This year’s focus is on transboundary waters: sharing water, sharing opportunities.

A measure calling for 400 megawatts of solar power on city-owned property in Los Angeles has officially failed. After a final tally, the city clerk’s office announced Thursday evening that voters rejected Measure B by a narrow 1 percent margin, with “yes” votes trailing 2,644 votes behind the “no” votes.

The announcement ends more than two weeks of suspense. Voters went to the polls March 3, but the result of the solar measure remained too close to call as provisional, late and write-in ballots had to be carefully counted.