California Center for Sustainable Communities

Can cities be net electricity producers? The answer is, sometimes, in some places. The team at CCSC has a new paper that shows how to integrate data for electricity use, grid capacity, and rooftop solar potential to evaluate net solar electricity potential in a city. https://ioes.ucla.edu//net-solar-generation-potential-fro/

Cities have become a central focus for questions of sustainability futures. Most discussion has to do with their activities and how they are governed and the strategies to reduce their environmental impacts while increasing their equity. Yet few ask yet a more fundamental question: what are cities for and how might that affect their futures? This commentary from our director, Stephanie Pincetl, raises questions about the role of cities especially in a potential post carbon age. https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//cities-treated-as-things-imagi/

A new study involving researchers from @CCSCatUCLA/ @UCLAIoES, could help policymakers plan for the energy needs of LA County's transition to #localwater If we want to meet our goals of having all local water, we need to treat it, and advanced water treatment for direct, potable reuse is more energy-intensive, said Felicia Federico, executive director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA and an author of the study. There are definitely trade-offs. Read more: http://bit.ly/38vdR9z

Estimating energy use for urban water management by utilities and households in Los Angeles, with help from our friends! Residential hot water heating is key. Reducing energy consumption for urban water management may yield economic and environmental benefits. Few studies provide comprehensive assessments of energy needs for urban water sectors that include both utility operations and household use. Here, we evaluate the energy needs for urban water management in metropolitan... Los Angeles (LA) County. Using planning scenarios that include both water conservation and alternative supply options, we estimate energy requirements of water imports, groundwater pumping, distribution in pipes, water and wastewater treatment, and residential water heating across more than one hundred regional water agencies covering over 9 million people. Results show that combining water conservation with alternative local supplies such as stormwater capture and water reuse (nonpotable or indirect potable) can reduce the energy consumption and intensity of water management in LA. Further advanced water treatment for direct potable reuse could increase energy needs. In aggregate, water heating represents a major source of regional energy consumption. The heating factor associated with grid-supplied electricity drives the relative contribution of energy-for-water by utilities and households. For most scenarios of grid operations, energy for household water heating significantly outweighs utility energy consumption. The study demonstrates how publicly available and detailed data for energy and water use supports sustainability planning. The method is applicable to cities everywhere. #CAwater https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab5e20 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ab5e20

UCLA graduates Anne Youngdahl and Sagarika Subramanian were key players on the research team responsible for publishing the 2019 Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLA GC) Environmental Report Card for Los Angeles County Water the most comprehensive analysis of Los Angeles County’s water systems to date. https://grandchallenges.ucla.edu//meet-former-undergrad-r/

Take a look at CCSC's 2019 research highlights. We continue to conduct research on water, energy, and urban ecosystems at numerous scales, with grants from multiple state agencies, as well as from both the City and County of Los Angeles; most of this work has also provided us the opportunity to expand our collaborations with community-based organizations. We have worked to develop replicable methods that inform policy regionally, statewide, and even internationally. Our research has been used to advance knowledge among communities of scholarship and practice about ways to advance urban sustainability and resilience. https://mailchi.mp/ec8baad35207/year-in-review

Congrats to our founder! Stephanie Pincetl has been awarded a 2020 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in geography at the University of Manchester, UK and will begin her appointment in January. https://www.ioes.ucla.edu//stephanie-pincetl-named-2020-f/

Researchers at UCLA have issued a 100-plus page environmental report card on water in Los Angeles County. The report discussed eight categories, including the quality of the county’s drinking water, which received a B+ although the grade was characterized as incomplete. The county does not have enough accessible and updated information for us to do a complete evaluation on the quality of drinking water, Dr. Felicia Federico, executive director of CCSC, said. Other categories, such as pipe infrastructure, groundwater and surface water quality, also have a major part in contributing to contamination of our water with contaminants such as lead. Lead in drinking water may go beyond California schools https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org//lead-water-california-sc/ /

Stephanie Pincetl, professor-in-residence at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, says new housing developments built away from the urban core aren’t just costly they can also be downright dangerous. http://dailybruin.com//california-needs-policies-to-build/

UCLA CCSC Dr. Stephanie Pincetl is co-principal investigator on a newly funded National Science Foundation project to study urban trees. Read more: https://ioes.ucla.edu//dr-stephanie-pincetl-is-co-princip/

Felicia Federico, executive director of the CA Center for Sustainable Communities and lead author of LA's Water Report Card, said the county would have a long way to go to earn an A grade. Read more: https://grandchallenges.ucla.edu/sustainable-la//water-2019