Mayor Eric Garcetti today highlighted the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s energy efficiency goal of 15% by year 2020—the highest and most ambitious energy efficiency goal by a major municipal utility in the United States. The new goal, adopted by Garcetti’s appointees to the Board of Water and Power in August 2014, exceeds the 10-year, 10 percent energy efficiency requirements set by AB 2021, and will create jobs while promoting energy savings for customers.
“Just as water conservation is how we will get through our drought and control our water costs, energy conservation is how we will address climate change and keep our power bills low,”Mayor Garcetti said. “Reforming the DWP and reducing utility costs are key components of my back to basics agenda, and investing in efficiency is three to four times cheaper than building new power plants and cleans the air. The cheapest and cleanest way to ensure we have enough electricity to keep the lights on and power our economy is through energy efficiency.”
The new energy efficiency target brings significant environmental as well as economic benefits to Los Angeles. The 15% goal represents a total of 3,596 GWh in energy use reduction which equates to the benefits of removing 440,000 cars from L.A.’s streets each year. The energy efficiency programs will also create 16 jobs for every $1 million invested, according to the jobs creation study conducted by UCLA. LADWP is working with commercial, industrial and institutional customers who use quality contractors that employ skilled union labor, and therefore provide these important work opportunities. (Full story at LAmayor)
