May 2011 - City of Pasadena

Keeping Pasadena’s Business Community Connected
May 2011
As of Jan. 1 this year, California has banned
the manufacture of 100-watt incandescent bulbs to
make way for more energy-efficient technology.
Consumers will be steered toward a new selection of
light bulbs that use 72 watts or less, including halogen
incandescents, CFLs and LEDs.
Our state has opted to implement a nationwide incandescent phase-out program one year in advance of the
rest of the country. The Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007 requires Americans to switch to
new bulbs that use 25 to 30 percent less energy, starting in 2012. Incandescent 100-, 75-, 60- and 40-watt
bulbs will be phased out nationwide through 2014.
Commercial and industrial lighting is also affected.
Effective July 14, 2012, most linear T12 fluorescent lamps will no longer be produced, and T8, T5
and U-bend fluorescent lamps, as well as halogen
PAR lamps, must meet new federal energy-efficiency
standards. (See “Tips” on page 4 for a limited-time
triple rebate on lighting from PWP.)
Continuing on its accelerated track, California will
stop making 75-watt bulbs as of Jan. 1, 2012. A ban on
production of 60- and 40-watt bulbs follows in 2013.
Consumers may still use up any remaining older bulbs,
but factories may no longer make them.
The California Energy Commission estimates the
phase-out will save California consumers $36.5 million
in energy bills in the first year alone. Nationwide, the
Natural Resources Defense Council estimates the new
standards will offset greenhouse gas emissions from 30
major power plants.
If you’ve considered upgrading your facility’s lighting to more efficient technology, now’s the
time to do it. T-12 lamps will be discontinued nationwide as of July 14, 2012 (see “Current News” above.)
For a limited time, PWP is offering a “triple rebate” on
T-5 and T-8 fluorescent lighting upgrades through its
Energy Efficiency Partnering (EEP) Program.
the agency notes, by obsolete equipment, poor
maintenance or inefficient use. “Lighting upgrades
are sound investments that pay off in lower monthly
bills,” said Thompson.
The EEP program offers generous incentives for a
broad range of permanently installed energy-saving
retrofits. The more energy your project saves, the
higher the rebate.
“Lighting is a prime candidate for huge energy
savings,” said EEP Program Manager Robert Thompson. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Office, nearly 30 percent of the energy used by
commercial businesses is for lighting.
Half or more of this energy is wasted,
This spring, you can offset the upfront cost of
upgrading to T-5 or T-8 lighting by earning an EEP
rebate of 16.5 cents per kilowatt hour saved over
one year (vs. the usual rate of 5.5 cents per kilowatt
hour). You must schedule a pre-inspection to reserve
a rebate, and qualifying projects must be completed
and post-inspected by Dec. 31, 2011.
For more details and advice, talk with your PWP
account manager or visit www.PWPweb.com/EEP
How is Pasadena tracking its progress
on environmental goals?
With an MBA from Loyola
Marymount, PWP Customer
Relations Manager Scott
Ushijima has served the city of
Pasadena since 1993.
Pasadena’s 2006 Green City Action Plan set
ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions,
taming water and energy use, reducing waste and
much more. To measure progress, the city’s Green
Team, which involves staff from PWP, devised a firstof-its-kind sustainability metrics system using custombuilt software to collect and report year-to-year data
on 170 measures. The centralized, web-based system
is now used to publish the yearly Green City Indicator Report, which has become an important guide
for strategic decision making and planning Pasadena’s future as a “green city.” This innovative project
recently won a Green California Leadership Award
as well as a 2010 Los Angeles County Green Leadership Award, a 2010 American Planning Association
(APA) Los Angeles Chapter Award and the 2010
APA California Chapter Award of Merit. Learn more
at www.cityofpasadena.net/greencity
Is the city investing in its own solar projects?
Absolutely! With the goal of helping customers
install 14,000 kilowatts of solar power by 2016,
PWP is promoting eye-catching and innovative
solar projects across town. The most recent to come
on-line is a project that involved the installation of
3,000 solar panels on the roof of PWP’s 4.75-milliongallon Windsor Reservoir south of Mountain View
Road. Surrounded by trees that shield neighboring
homes, the innovative system will provide 962,800
kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy every year
for groundwater pumping. That will spare Pasadena
762 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which is
equivalent to planting 4,600 trees every year. Owned
and operated by Spear Point Energy, who will sell the
output to PWP at low, stable rates over the next 20
years, the system will also help our Water Division
save about $17,000 in energy costs annually.
To put solar to work at your facility, visit
www.PWPweb.com/solar
Rebates & Conservation
626.744.6970
Printed on Recycled Paper
Billing & Service
What does “zero net energy” mean?
The ultimate in green building, a “zero net energy”
facility consumes no energy from the local grid
and produces no carbon emissions. This can be
achieved by generating power on-site with wind or
solar systems, and by cutting overall energy use with
very efficient appliances, heating, cooling and lighting systems. California has set the goal that all new
commercial buildings will be zero net energy by
2030.
Water Emergencies
626.744.4005
626.744.4138
Power Emergencies
626.744.4673
www.PWPweb.com
When the Metropolitan Water District
announced it would be shutting down a major pipeline in
March, cutting off 60 percent of Pasadena’s water supply,
PWP received a tidal wave of support from its customers.
“So many Pasadena
businesses and institutions went far
beyond what they
were asked to do to
help Pasadena through
this emergency,” said
Account Manager Jane
Raftis.
Fuller Seminary, a model of environmental
stewardship with its LEED certified library
and a recently planted a water-wise Prayer
Garden (pictured), made a clarion call for
conservation to all staff and students during
the emergency water shortage in March.
MWD scheduled the
10-day shutdown
March 18-28 so that it
could complete seismic
repairs on a local water
treatment plant. Forced
to rely on severely
limited groundwater
and reserves, the City
of Pasadena banned
all outdoor landscape
irrigation.
shutdown, though not required to do so, until days before
the facility’s season opening, sparing more than 190,000
gallons of water. The club also stopped watering its
landscaped hillsides and potted trees. “We knew that this
event was important,” Director Jan Lopez said modestly,
“and that we needed to help.”
Fuller Theological Seminary “took a personal interest” in
the effort, said Ken Crane, Administrative Assistant to the
Facilities Director, e-mailing 300 staff and faculty members
and urging conservation among the school’s 600 studenthousing units.
Pasadena Unified School District Director of Maintenance
& Operations Khalil Harrington and Maintenance and
Grounds Coordinator Gus Gonzalez directed their crews
to shut off backflows at 32 sites, overfill swimming pools,
use hoses sparingly, and let school lawns grow so they’d
need less water. Meanwhile, the Westridge School for
Girls used drums of water they had stored for emergencies.
“While we can’t possibly list everyone who helped,” Raftis
said, “we want every customer to know how much we
value their cooperation and extra efforts.”
While some facilities, such as nurseries and athletic fields,
were exempt, most of these customers shut off their sprinklers anyway, reports Account Manager Irma Cruz. “We
were very impressed with the great leadership of Caltech,
Brookside Golf Course, the Rose Bowl and Pasadena City
College, to name just a few,” she said.
These and other customers, including Caltrans, Parsons,
Huntington Hospital, Kaiser, Vons, William Carey International University, the Jet Propulsion Lab and many others,
helped in countless ways, she said. Customers sent mass
e-mails, added notices to their websites, posted signs on
lawns and deferred spring landscaping plans.
In the middle of planned maintenance, Gerrish Swim &
Tennis Club held off on refilling pools and spas during the
Though not required, Gerrish Swim and Tennis Club on New York
Drive went the extra mile to help the city conserve during the Level 4
water shortage emergency by postponing refilling of its pools.
Keeping Pasadena’s Business Community Connected
While PWP anticipates that City Council will lift
the ongoing Level 1 water shortage restrictions this month
due to improved supply conditions statewide, we encourage our customers to continue saving on their water bill
by following a reasonable irrigation schedule. Customers
have succeeded in maintaining beautiful landscapes while
complying with the city’s mandatory watering schedule of
one day per week, Nov. 1 – March 31, and up to three days
per week, Apr. 1 – Oct. 31. Now we’re asking you to do the
same, voluntarily.
You can increase your bottom line even more by replacing your water-thirsty turf with water-smart landscaping,
and you’ll get a $1 per square foot rebate with PWP’s Turf
Replacement Program, now offered to commercial customers beginning Aug. 1.
In the meantime, get a head start on your project by taking
advantage of the summer heat. It can take several months to
kill turf, but the summer swelter can make the long goodbye
short and sweet.
While it’s ok to begin killing turf now, be sure to take plenty
of pictures of existing landscape and leave the old turf
intact until you’ve passed a plan inspection by PWP. Visit
www.cityofpasadena.net/turfremoval for full program rules
and to reserve your rebate.
PWP offers TRIPLE Rebate on
Efficient Lighting in 2011
May 2011
Pasadena Water & Power
150 S Los Robles Ave Ste 350
Pasadena CA 91101
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Pasadena, CA
PERMIT # 484