How does Manhattan Beach stack up with other cities in its energy-saving and sustainability efforts? Manhattan Beach has won a "silver" level award from the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) and the Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCalREN) in a recent friendly competition among cities.
The award was given as part of the groups' inaugural
South Bay Energy and Climate Recognition Program. To participate, cities were required to be enrolled in the SoCalREN—a
program administered by Los Angeles County to provide energy-saving
services to
residents, businesses and public agencies served by Southern California
Edison and/or Southern California Gas Company. Cities’ progress was
tracked through a point system. To earn points, cities had to complete
at least one activity within
the categories of climate action, education and technical assistance.
Cities earned gold-level achievement by earning 12 to 15 points,
silver-level by earning eight to 11 points, and bronze-level achievement
by earning three to seven points.
Taking home gold-level achievement were the cities of Carson, Hawthorne and Rolling Hills Estates. Manhattan Beach joined El Segundo, Gardena, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Torrance in winning the silver award. Lawndale,
Palos Verdes Estates and Redondo Beach earned bronze-level achievement.
“Through the SBCCOG’s South Bay Environmental Services Center program, it has been our 20-year mission to implement programs to help our cities save energy
and water and reduce waste in our communities,” said Cedric Hicks, Carson council member and chair of the SBCCOG, in a statement. “As we continue our work this year to help cities update their greenhouse gas emission inventories and ultimately their climate action plans,
we decided to create some friendly competition to engage our cities in the process. We’re elated to see they met the challenge.”
The point-earning
activities included the following:
·
Participating in a SoCalREN energy program
·
Purchasing clean power
·
Updating their city’s GHG inventories
·
Implementing on-site, renewable energy (solar power, hydropower etc.)
·
Installing energy-efficient lighting and HVAC replacement in municipal facilities
·
Complying with Assembly Bill 802, which requires energy benchmarking and publicly disclosing building energy use
·
Showing quantified energy savings in municipal facilities
·
Replacing turf (grass) at municipal facilities with more drought-tolerant native, plants
·
Hosting beach clean-ups, Earth Day events, gardening events and more
·
Promoting sustainable practices online
In
2022, the California Air Resources Board released its updated proposal
to implement the most ambitious climate action of any jurisdiction in
the world,
taking unprecedented steps to drastically slash pollution and
accelerate the transition to clean energy. The state has set the goal of
achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. The rewards program is designed to
help cities do their part to meet this goal one sustainable
step at a time.
SBCCOG
The
South Bay Cities Council of Governments is a joint powers government agency of 16 cities and Los Angeles County, all of which share the goal of maximizing
the quality of life and productivity of the sub-region. Within this structure, the cities and L.A. County maintain the qualities and characteristics that make them unique and independent, while also coming together collectively to address issues of common
interest for a greater good of the communities through fostering cooperation, collaboration and innovation.
