|
Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) also known as low carbon development strategies or low carbon growth plans focus on addressing and integrating programs to curb climate change with economic and social development objectives. Efforts in this area may be focused around reducing greenhouse gasses, reducing pollutants and promoting renewable energy. Low emission development also encompasses the promotion of sustainability mobility, public transit, shared mobility, walkability and procurement initiatives.
Efforts the City of Glendale has taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Glendale community, internal operations, transport, fleet electrification, sustainable mobility solutions, waste, building sector and use of renewable fuels will be presented in this section.
1. Energy - Energy is a priority area for Glendale’s Office of Sustainability because in this sphere there is significant potential to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), while providing consumer and City cost savings through energy efficiency and distributed energy resources—notably solar and recently, energy storage.
- Glendale Water and Power is the provider of water and power to Glendale residents and businesses. Glendale Water and Power (GWP) is committed to providing energy in an environmentally sustainable manner. GWP has long focused on providing residential and business customers opportunities to conserve energy by providing information on energy conservation practices, energy reports and smart rebate programs
- Since 1999, GWP has been a leader in the development and implementation of energy efficiency programs for its customers. These programs have consistently ranked among the best in California, in terms of annual demand and energy savings produced. These savings are to the benefit of individual customers, the utility, and the Glendale community.
- Homes
- Businesses/Institutions
- Renewable Energy - GWP has a long history of supporting renewable energy. In 1937, Glendale became one of the first California cities to contract with the Federal Government to purchase hydropower from Hoover Dam. Glendale was able to capture and use landfill gas from Scholl Canyon to generate electricity starting in 1994 through 2018. More recently, GWP has made long term investments in wind, solar, small hydroelectric, and geothermal generation resources, continuing to explore new renewable energy options for Glendale residents and businesses.
- Energy Storage – Energy storage is a developing technology typically used to provide emergency standby power to critical loads during an outage of GWP’s utility system, to reduce the amount of energy consumed from the utility during periods of peak consumption, or in conjunction with on-site distributed generation, notably rooftop solar and fuel cells.
- City Reports
- Information
- GWP Annual Energy Efficiency Program Results and Adopted Energy Efficiency Targets - In compliance with Assembly Bill (AB) 2021, Glendale Water and Power adopted a minimum annual average energy efficiency target of 1.16 % of forecasted retail sales from 2018 to 2027. With the exception of FY 2006-07, GWP has exceeded its energy savings goal each year, with an average of 12.1 gigawatt hours per year in customer energy savings. At $0.15 per kilowatt hour, this translates into total average annual bill reductions for participating customers of $1.8 million each year.
- Accomplishments
- Renewable Portfolio Standard
- Glendale Water and Power adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in 2004. Assembly Bill 162 (Statute of 2009) and Senate Bill 1305 (Statutes of 1997) require utilities to disclose information to consumers about the energy resources used to generate the electricity sold in the form of a Power Content Label created by the California Energy Commission. This label provides customers with reliable information about the electricity sources, enabling customers to easily compare the power content of one electric service product with that of others. The power content label is similar to a "nutrition label" for electricity.
- LED
- Glendale Water & Power is continuing to improve Glendale city streets by converting the existing High Pressure Sodium (HPS) street lights to energy efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights. Over 5000 street lights have been converted to LED lights.
- City leads in LED retrofits (all parking structures)
- Glendale Fire Department have been commended on the use of LED lights (requiring less high idling of fire trucks, with 19,000+ calls a year)
- Current Projects (Converting Glendale Street Lights to LED)
- LED Traffic Signals
- Energy Storage
- Glendale Water and Power installed a 2MW battery energy storage system at the Grandview Substation that will help GWP provide reliable service for its customers and continue the utility’s modernization efforts.
- Pilot program with American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) gets rid of gas landscaping equipment and replaces it with battery-operated equipment
- Grayson Repowering Project & Integrated Resource Plan
- Solar
- Solar NEM programs - Residents and businesses in Glendale have taken action to go solar. At the end 2019, the City had 1,805 interconnected solar systems, with the total capacity of 19.5 MW. Of these systems, 1,243 were incentivized, with a total capacity of 10.5 MW.
- The 222 kW solar system at Glendale Community College was installed in 2007.
- In October 2020 The City Council also directed GWP to complete contract negotiations with Sunrun, Inc. for a proposed virtual power plant program that would provide solar generation and battery storage from up to 3,000 - 4,000 single-family residences and approximately 30-40 multi-family properties, making it the largest virtual power plant program of its kind.
- Biogas
- The Biogas Renewable Generation Project will generate approximately 12 megawatts of renewable green energy for the City of Glendale on a three-acre portion of the City landfill. The Proposed Project would beneficially utilize the naturally recurring landfill gas locally without having to transport the gas offsite. This naturally occurring renewable fuel will generate electric energy for local consumption.
2. Water - Water is a critical resource and a foundational public service for the vibrant residential and commercial success of the City of Glendale. The City’s imported water supplies are increasingly sensitive to climate change. Building on more than 100 years of innovative water resource management, Glendale is continuing efforts to increase conservation and reduce reliance on imported water.
- Conservation – The City of Glendale continues to help residents and businesses reduce water use through education and water efficiency programs – promoting the reality that every drop counts. In addition to helping customers conserve, GWP has implemented water conservation efforts at all of its facilities and is in the process of installing drought-tolerant landscaping also, with the efforts that the City’s Community Services and Parks Department has implemented in its community facilities and parks, particularly related to landscaping.
- Homes
- Businesses/Institutions
- Water Waste – The City of Glendale recognizes that while water is a renewable resource, it is a finite one. To ensure sustainable consumption and the protection of people of the city and for the public welfare, the city has implemented a “No Water Waste Policy.” The ordinance makes it mandatory that water resources available to the City are put to the maximum beneficial use, the conservation of water is exercised to benefit environmental health, and to extract materials that can be used again and again in a more circular society.
- City Reports
- Accomplishments
- Conservation
- Glendale’s residents have been diligent about sustainability. Answering a call to action, GWP’s customers conserved nearly 22% over 2013 water usage levels during the water supply shortage of 2015 that was caused by multiple years of severe droughts. Since then, Glendale’s residents and businesses continue to conserve, and have saved almost 8 billion gallons of water through 2019.
- GWP was one of the first utilities to implement full automated-metering-infrastructure (AMI) or “smart meters. ”Having smart meters allows GWP’s software to monitor residential water use and send out automated leak alerts to let customers know when they have a leak in their home’s plumbing. Since inception, the system has sent out thousands of leak alert emails and letters helping GWP’s customers save water, and alerting them to faulty plumbing and fixtures in their homes.
- GWP partnered with the Glendale Fire Department to utilize a rebate from the Metropolitan Water District to procure water saving equipment used for firefighter training. “Pump Pods” capture 400,000 gallons of water for each training session by recycling water which would have normally been sent down the storm drain. To date (about one year), GFD staff have conserved 7.6 million gallons of water utilizing the Pump Pod. The pods are used for drills, tests, and training.
- The City Council updated the City’s ordinances to allow artificial turf in residential homes as part of conservation efforts. The change helps to support the Metropolitan Water District’s residential Turf Replacement programs by allowing residents the option of using artificial turf as part of the landscaping in their front and side yards.
- Recycled Water System
- 2018 was the 40th anniversary of recycled water use in the City of Glendale. The City of Glendale partnered with the City of Los Angeles to build a water reclamation plant in the late 1960’s.In 1976, the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant began operation. In 1978, the City built its first dedicated recycled water line to the Grayson Power Plant to offset potable water used in the cooling towers at the plant.
- In 1992, Glendale and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power cooperated on the construction of a regional recycled water system, starting with the “Forest Lawn Project,” to supply recycled water to several customers for irrigation. Since 1992, Glendale has invested over $20.3 million in expansion of its recycled water system with nearly 6% of Glendale’s total supply in 2019 being met by locally generated recycled water.
- GWP continues to expand its recycled water system and recently expanded its recycled water system to three Glendale Unified School District schools in West Glendale.
- The City has 82 recycled water customers, and the water is used for irrigation, dust control, dual-plumbed buildings and various industrial uses.
- This reuse frees up enough potable water to serve 6,000 homes every year, and reduces the amount of water the City needs to import form the Colorado River or Bay Delta.
3. Transportation - Glendale has excellent access to affordable local and regional public transit services, as well as pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Glendale’s transportation, however, is largely fueled with unsustainable fossil fuels, notably gasoline, diesel, and compressed natural gas. In this sphere of sustainability, Glendale is exploring and promoting both alternative modes of transportation and alternatively fueled vehicles.
- Regional Transit – Multi-modal regional transit services are provided to Glendale residents by Amtrak, Metrolink, Greyhound, and Metro.
- Local Transit - The City of Glendale operates its own local bus service, the Beeline, as well as a curb-to-curb transportation service for residents who are 65 years of age or older and residents with disabilities, called Dial A’ Ride. These multi-modal local transit services function as a community circulator system.
- Active Transportation (Bicycle/Pedestrian) - The City of Glendale promotes an active and healthy community, where bicycling and walking can serve as a primary form of transportation for residents and visitors. The City’s approach is to integrate cycling and walking into the transportation system through improvements to existing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and policies that can create a significant cultural change towards a more active and sustainable way of life.
- Electric Vehicles – Glendale residents are embracing the electric vehicle market, benefitting both the environment and the economy. By using electricity rather than gasoline, electric vehicles produce less greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our carbon footprint. GWP has launched a new program that expands the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, making it easier for residents to charge their EVs at public charging stations. GWP is working to foster a seamless integration of EVs into the driving experience throughout Glendale, while ensuring to accommodate the increase in electrical demand.
- City Reports
- Accomplishments
- Mass Transit Linkages
- Glendale’s historic Transportation Center provides service for both regional Metrolink lines and Amtrak. The Larry Zarian Transportation Center serves as the City’s transportation hub with intermodal access to the Beeline bus routes. The train station is also slated to serve as a stop for California’s High-Speed Rail linking Southern and Northern California., ,
- The Beeline Service
- The City of Glendale has been operating its own circulator bus system since December 1984. The Beeline, operating with 34 heavy duty transit buses (27 40-foot buses, 7 35-foot buses) on 9 routes, provides in-town mobility to roughly 3 million passenger trips per year on buses using compressed natural gas (CNG) engines. It connects Glendale residents with LA Metro and Metrolink regional services.
- Dial A’ Ride
- Dial A’ Ride services are also operated by the Beeline within Glendale for seniors and those with disabilities.
- Green Fleet Vehicles
- In 2010, the City of Glendale began developing a Green Fleet made up of alternatively fueled vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and partial zero emissions vehicle gasoline engines.
- The Green Fleet consists of 35 EVs and 81 hybrids.
- CNG Trucks
- Glendale’s Public Works Department retired the last of its diesel-fueled refuse trucks and replaced them with compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks in FY 2017-18. CNG trucks produce 95% fewer tailpipe emissions and 20 - 30% fewer emissions overall than their petroleum counterparts. Currently all 36 of the City’s refuse trucks are CNG.
4. The Built Environment -The City of Glendale’s built environment covers the performance and design of buildings and other forms of City infrastructure, including street and bridges. State of California building standards continue to ratchet up, providing the City a clear and consistent path for improved sustainability, building safety, and resiliency.
- Building Performance/Practices – The City of Glendale has put sustainable building performance and practices at the forefront of construction and the operation of buildings. The City provides information about green building practices to property owners and managers via City departments and aims to incorporate and expand green building practices into community sustainability outreach and education.
- Building Safety – The City of Glendale ensures the health, safety and general welfare of the people who work, visit, or reside in Glendale by enforcing regulations which protect their property, structures, and quality of life. Building safety in Glendale focuses on a number of important issues pertaining to what it takes to create and maintain safe and sustainable structures.
- City Reports
- Accomplishments
- Green Buildings
- In June of 2011 the City of Glendale adopted a Green Building Standard which exceeded the CalGreen code. In early 2017, the City adopted the new California Green Building Code, notably its requirements for the recycling of construction and demolition debris. A comprehensive construction and demolition recycling program diverts materials from the landfill. Elements of the California Green Building Code cover water-permeable paving for specific walkable surfaces, parking areas, and patio surfaces; certain buildings to provide unobstructed roof space and pre wiring for future solar energy installations; as well as restrictions on natural light and ventilation. Now the City prepares to implement the 2019 California building code that upholds the previous years’ Green Building Code requirements and expands solar energy initiatives.
- The Beeline’s New Maintenance Facility
- The new Beeline maintenance facility, completed in 2020, is fully Title 24 compliant and “solar ready.”
|
