City Receives $1.9M Grant to Improve Tracking of Sustainability Efforts

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PILOT PROJECT FOR CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION’S “ENERGY INNOVATION CHALLENGE” TO BEGIN THIS FALL, HELPS SUPPORT CLIMATE ACTION PLAN GOALS

 

SAN DIEGO – The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the California Energy Commission to pilot an advanced Smart City Open Urban Platform (SCOUP) network. This web-based platform will benchmark and track greenhouse gas emissions and energy use associated with select municipal facilities, allowing the City of San Diego and the public to measure the City’s progress toward its ambitious Climate Action Plan (CAP) goals and overall sustainability-related efforts.

 

The SCOUP involves integrating the construction and energy consumption data from the City’s municipal facilities into a single Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager will provide the City with a centralized platform to monitor the performance of its buildings and plan future efficiency upgrade projects to meet the CAP goals.

 

“We’re leading by example when it comes to creating a more energy efficient city,” said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. “What gets measured gets managed and this new, cutting edge platform will help us better track energy use in our public buildings so city government can be as innovative as the people it represents.”

 

This project aligns with the Smart City initiative of leveraging data and technology in innovative ways to improve decision-making and outcomes in a main-sector area, such as energy. The City’s SCOUP network will be able to collect useful emissions and energy usage data from several City facilities for the pilot project. The data will help determine whether the City is keeping pace with the targets set in the Climate Action Plan (CAP), which was unanimously approved by the City Council in 2015.

 

The CAP’s Municipal Energy Strategy and Implementation Plan calls for the reduction of municipal energy consumption by 15 percent by 2020 and by an additional 25 percent by 2035. Leading the way among major U.S. cities, San Diego was among the first and the largest in America to target 100 percent renewable energy usage Citywide by 2035.

 

As part of this project, the City will be partnering with the Local Government Commission to conduct public outreach and education. It will share lessons learned and broadcast project results to other local governments, elected officials, residents and stakeholders statewide.

“Fundamentally, the priority with this type of project is for the City to update and mature its own tool kit to manage and track energy use across multiple facilities and buildings,” said Environmental Services Deputy Director Jack Clark. “The secondary component is that the City can share its progress on reducing energy consumption and increasing clean energy generation. The results will provide examples and resources that communicate to San Diegans that we are in this together.”

 

In addition to advancing the Climate Action Plan, SCOUP will help create – and track and report — sustainability opportunities in underserved areas such as the San Diego Promise Zone, a 6.4-square-mile, federally designated area that spans several communities. Potential opportunities include renewable energy system installation as well as energy and water conservation.

 

“The City intends to reinforce its position as a worldwide leader in Smart Cities innovation through the development and testing of an open, flexible, scalable and secure technology platform designed to consolidate and manage all municipal infrastructure, energy, and services for indoor Smart Energy Management and controls as it has for its award-winning Smart City outdoor control program,” said Environmental Services Department Director Mario X. Sierra. “This grant will fund this critical first step toward meeting the City’s Strategic Plan goals by creating a comprehensive Smart City interactive data model to engage citizens and improve municipal service delivery and quality of life.”