CC SR 20201215 03 - GHG Emissions from Energy Use
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 12/15/2020
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business
AGENDA TITLE:
Consideration and possible action to receive a status update on determining the City’s
greenhouse gas emissions from electricity use.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Receive and file a status update on determining the City’s greenhouse gas
emissions from electricity use.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Megan Barnes, Senior Administrative Analyst
REVIEWED BY: Karina Bañales, Deputy City Manager
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. September 1, 2020 staff report and attachments:
https://rpv.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=3719&meta_id=859
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B. City Letter Rescinding its Notice of Intent to Join CPA (B-1)
C. Excerpt from Citizen Satisfaction Survey (C-1)
BACKGROUND:
On September 1, 2020, the City Council directed Staff to submit a letter rescinding the
City’s June 10 notice of intent to consider joining Clean Power Alliance and to proceed
with a feasibility study, opting instead to further examine the City’s greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions from energy use. As the City Council will recall, Clean Power Alliance
(CPA) is a community choice aggregator (CCA) that provides renewable energy to 3
million customers in 32 communities in Southern California, including several South Bay
cities. For background on this issue, see the September 1, 2020, staff report
(Attachment A).
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That evening, the City Council also directed Staff to request Rancho Palos Verdes’
community-wide electricity usage data from Southern California Edison (SCE); to reach
out to the South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) about determining the
City’s most recent GHG emissions from energy use; and to return to the City Council by
the year’s end with a progress update.
This report provides a progress update and summarizes activity related to this issue
since the September meeting.
Letter Rescinding Notice of Intent
On September 14, Staff sent a letter from the City Manager to CPA Executive Director
Ted Bardacke rescinding the previously submitted notice of intent (Attachment B). Staff
also notified SCE of the rescinded notice of intent.
SCE Data Requests
After the letter was submitted, Staff canceled previous requests to SCE for the City’s
municipal and community-wide electricity usage data that was to be used for the
preparation of the CPA’s feasibility study. Staff also reached out to SCE about the type
of data request needed for the GHG emissions analysis. On November 2, Staff
submitted a request for the City’s 2019 usage data to SCE through the Third-Party Data
Request Program for local governments and academic researchers. Staff requested the
most recent available calendar year of data to be consistent with past GHG inventories.
This data is in aggregate form and broken down by rate category (commercial and
residential). It does not include personal identifying customer information. Because the
City will use this data internally (not with the assistance of a consultant), Staff is not
required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). As the City Council will recall, the
City Attorney’s Office had raised concerns with an NDA that Staff would have been
required to sign to access data requested for the preparation for the since-canceled
CPA feasibility study.
On December 4, Staff received the requested data from SCE. Although Staff only
requested 2019 data, due to an error, the City was provided with two years’ worth of
data from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019. It is Staff’s understanding that the
City does not have to return this additional year of data, but can analyze it as well, if
desired.
The next step is for Staff to use software to determine RPV’s GHG emissions from
electricity usage based on the data. Because the City is a participant in in the Beacon
Program sponsored by the Institute for Local Government and the Statewide Energy
Efficiency Collaborative, Staff has free access to Clearpath, software used by cities to
create GHG inventories, however, Staff learned that this free access is only available
through the end of 2020. It is Staff’s understanding, however, that the City can continue
to access Clearpath at no additional cost through the SBCCOG. Staff will begin training
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on the software, perform the analysis and bring the findings to the City Council in the
coming months.
South Bay Cities Council of Governments
After the September meeting, Staff spoke with staff from the SBCCOG about
opportunities to determine the City’s most recent GHG emissions from energy use.
SBCCOG continues to explore potential funding opportunities to perform updated GHG
inventories for all of the South Bay cities that adopted climate action plans – including
Rancho Palos Verdes – to track where they are toward reaching the first milestone year
for emissions reduction targets: 2020. As mentioned in the September staff report, the
SBCCOG has indicated that these new inventories would likely not be complete until
late 2021 or sometime in the first quarter of 2022 because the consultant would need to
gather the full years’ worth of utility usage data for 2020, as well as updated census
data. Staff will continue to monitor this effort.
With regard to the City’s internal data analysis, as mentioned in the previous section,
the SBCCOG informed Staff that the City can still access the Clearpath software at no
additional cost through the SBCCOG’s subscription. It is Staff’s understanding that
using the SBCCOG’s subscription could provide an additional benefit with the analysis
because the software is already programmed with some previous years of RPV’s
electricity usage data, making comparison easier. Staff will contact SBCCOG about
setting up this access in the coming weeks.
Citizen Satisfaction Survey
At the September meeting, the City Council discussed including questions gauging
residents’ interest in clean energy in the upcoming RPV Citizen Satisfaction Survey but
did not provide specific direction. Staff developed a set of draft questions that were
presented to the City Council on November 4. Staff subsequently worked with Mayor
Alegria on a revised broader set of questions about sustainability and conservation,
including a few questions that touch on the subject of home energy use. These
questions were presented to the City Council on November 17 and are included in this
report (Attachment C). The Citizen Satisfaction Survey is set to be mailed to all
residential addresses in the Rancho Palos Verdes in the few weeks. Residents will also
be able to take the survey online starting in mid-December via SurveyMonkey. The
deadline for responses is January 25. Once all survey responses are collected, Staff will
return to the City Council to present the findings, ideally prior to the next City Council
Goals Workshop. The City Council can consider the responses to the sustainability
questions when developing policy on this issue.
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B-1
Page 5 of 10
3. Do you feel that City trails are adequately maintained?
Strongly
Disagree Disagree Neither Agree
nor Disagree Agree Strongly
Agree □ □ □ □ □
4. How do you find information on which City trails to use?
□ Social media □ Lists of top hiking spots on the internet □ Word of mouth □ City website □ I grew up here/live here □ Other: ________________________________________
Sustainability/Conservation
1. Please rank your top general environmental concerns, with 1 being the most concerning:
___ Air pollution
___ Water pollution
___ Sea level rise
___ Extreme weather
___ Food and water
security
___ Natural resource depletion
___ Other: ____________________
2. Please rank your top local environmental concerns, with 1 being the most concerning:
___ Ocean/beach pollution
___ Impacts of chemical dumping off
the coast (eg. DDT, PCBs)
___ Sea level rise
___ Health of marine life
___ GHG emissions
from transportation
___ GHG emissions
from energy use
____ Wildfire hazard
___ Port/refinery pollution
___ Idle oil/gas wells
___ Other: ___________
____________________
3. Which of the following sustainability/conservation programs interest you? (check all that apply)
□ Electric vehicle (EV) charging
stations/parking spaces □ Expanded public transit
□ Expanded bicycle/pedestrian
amenities □ Energy efficiency incentives
(appliance subsidies, waived
permit fees for green building
projects, etc.)
□ Sustainable/drought-
tolerant landscaping
opportunities □ Tree planting
opportunities □ Greywater reuse
opportunities □ Home solar incentives
□ E-waste collection
events
□ Expanded recycling
opportunities □ Food scraps
recycling/composting
opportunities □ Other:
_____________________
_____________________
C-1
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4. Do you feel that the City is doing enough to promote sustainability?
Yes No
□ □
5. If you answered “no” to the previous question, what would you like to see the City do?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
6. Are you interested in having more of the electricity that powers your home come from
renewable sources, such as wind and solar?
Not at All
Interested
Not Very
Interested
Neither
Interested nor
Disinterested
Interested
Very
Interested I have a home
solar system
□ □ □ □ □ □
Civic Center Planning
1. How familiar are you with the current Civic Center Master Plan project?
Not at All
Familiar
Slightly
Familiar
Somewhat
Familiar
Moderately
Familiar
Very
Familiar
□ □ □ □ □
2. Do you favor or oppose the redevelopment of the Civic Center site?
Strongly
Oppose Oppose Neither Oppose
nor Favor Favor Strongly Favor
□ □ □ □ □
3. Please select the following the amenities that would likely cause you to visit the Civic Center.
(check all that apply)
□ Dog Park
□ Public Performances at Small Amphitheater
□ Hiking
□ Playground
□ Restaurant
□ Special Event (such as Fourth of July)
□ City Hall (specify)
□ Public Meeting
□ Meet with City Staff
□ Meet with City Council Member
□ City Services (e.g. permits)
C-2