Energy

The Sustainable LA Grand Challenge of UCLA has an ambitious goal of helping transition Los Angeles County to 100% renewable energy by 2050 through innovations in science, technology and policy. An important first step is to determine the balance of accessible renewable energy resources and its distribution and storage. To address this data gap, researchers assessed the 2050 renewable energy potential for the Los Angeles region (defined by the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the greater metropolitan area, including the surrounding counties) and presented feasible pathways for achieving the 100% renewable energy goal. This study is a preliminary assessment of the energy portfolio for the entire L.A. region.

In 2018, the transportation sector represented over 28%, the largest share, of the total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Automated vehicles, a rapidly evolving technology, have been modeled to reduce GHG emissions up to 94% and bring accident prevention, smoother traffic and better service to people facing driving difficulties other projected benefits of automated vehicles include reduced infrastructure needs but serving the same demand and potentially more efficient public transportation systems that eliminate transit stops. However, as of 2016 there had not been a field experiment study conducted locally to test and verify the impacts of automated vehicles within Los Angeles County. In this project, researchers ran an automated vehicle prototype on various routes in the county to document the effects on GHG emissions and sustainable transportation.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions helps mitigate climate change and improves air quality, which protects public health. California has the worst air pollution than any other state in the country. As the world’s fifth-largest economy, the most populous state in the nation, and a coastal state vulnerable to climate catastrophes, we have ample reasons to be a leader in the race to net-zero GHG emissions. While achieving net-zero emissions is critical in limiting global temperature rise, the resulting long-term air quality and health impacts in the state remained unclear. Quantifying these impacts can help demonstrate the benefits of climate change action to local communities and policymakers.

A power grid is a network for delivering electricity to consumers. Because utility structure is widely understudied, a critical component to “greening” the power grid is fully understanding the current system. In the Los Angeles region, two separate entities provide power to residents and are subject to very different regulatory structures:   Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the country’s largest municipally owned utility that serves the City of Los Angeles.   Southern California Edison (SCE) is an investor-owned utility that serves all of Los Angeles County outside the City of Los Angeles borders.   Having dual models of electricity service and regulation provides researchers with a unique opportunity to evaluate and compare the two. Researchers examined whether these two models under different forms of governance and ownership have necessary structures in place in order to achieve sustainability in the energy sector.

The City of Los Angeles is undertaking various initiatives to track and reduce energy and water consumption in existing buildings. Currently, there are significant barriers such as unreliable data and non-standardized tracking mechanisms in obtaining consumption data from the City’s building stock. Recognizing this challenge, the objective of Howe’s project is to create energy and water prediction tools that will determine the future needs based on the historical record of municipal buildings using regression models. 

Battery storage is a new and emerging renewable energy technology with various challenges that must be addressed before it can be deployed at a larger scale. California has begun supporting energy storage with AB 2514 (Legislation passed to create a cleaner electrical grid and increase the use of renewable energy through the use of energy storage technologies) in 2013 but concerns such as whether battery technology can store enough energy to power homes and the lengths of battery lifetimes remain. This project conducted legal research examining the barriers and challenges of widely deploying distributed energy resources, or “behind-the-meter” storage, for customers served by investor-owned utilities in California.  

The shared Community Renewables program is a novel concept being implemented across the country, which enables customers to access clean power by joining a renewable energy project in their community. Thus far, including in California, the program is limited to a handful of solar energy projects and customers have very limited access. Customers who participate in community solar share solar output among themselves, as opposed to homeowners individually implementing the solar system to offset the electricity usage.  Given the potential to significantly expand renewable energy generation and use in the long run, this project explores the current status of the community renewables solar market both in Los Angeles County and the United States. The overall objective is to carry out in-depth research combining policy review, interviews and case studies to develop policy recommendations for expanding renewable energy production projects. 

Zoning is the primary legislative tool through which land use is locally governed in the United States. In Los Angeles, zoning and land use exert a fundamental influence on the production, consumption and delivery of energy. While recent state and local policy has sought to integrate land use and sustainability practices, these efforts do not acknowledge the full extent of land use policy’s influence on urban energy systems. Thus, this project comprehensively mapped a history of L.A. County zoning and building code ordinances over the past 150 years and evaluated their impact on L.A.’s urban energy systems and public health.  

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is an energy supply model whereby local governments combine their energy loads and make the choice to purchase energy independently instead of from a utility. Therefore, CCA allows local governments to set their own renewable energy targets and potentially deliver a greater range of renewable energy to their customers. As of 2017, CCAs were projected to account for as much as 60% of California’s electricity load by 2020.   The objective of this project is to assess the potential of the CCA model in California to contribute to meeting 100% local, renewable energy by 2050 in Los Angeles County. Through analysis of policy and planning documents, media coverage and interviews, the project explored opportunities and benefits of this innovation in energy governance and service delivery. It also identified future challenges with the CCA model.