Dear CAEPA members and friends,
Here are a few online events related to environmental topics, most of them are free to watch and register. If you are a student or job seeker, we also recommend you to sign up these events, as they provide valuable insights on environmental industry and good networking opportunities.
1. The Climate Center’s Community Energy Resilience Policy Summit (Free)
Register Link: https://climatecenter.salsalabs.org/policysummit/index.html
The Policy Summit will highlight the latest legislative and regulatory developments related to transitioning to a new California energy infrastructure which is clean, affordable, resilient, equitable, and safe.
The basic architecture of California’s electricity system hasn’t changed over the past hundred years, notwithstanding substantial technological advancements. Power no longer flows one way, from distant large power plants to cities and homes. It is now possible for power to flow back and forth locally within a distribution system.
With the implementation of the state’s renewable energy goals, the growth of smart appliances and electric vehicles, and dramatically declining prices for clean energy, a cleaner, decentralized grid is now possible – which would entail substantial changes in how our electricity system is managed. This will require utility regulatory reform and new funding to empower local governments to be in charge of siting decisions about new energy infrastructure.
The elements of the needed policy reforms to achieve to this transformation are starting to become clear.
This year in the California legislature, numerous bills have been introduced which can help achieve these policy priorities, including SB 1314 (introduced by Senator Bill Dodd) which requires the Strategic Growth Council to develop a grant program for local governments interested in developing clean energy-based community energy resilience plans, and also SB 1240 (introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner), which requires the California Energy Commission to identify and evaluate options for transforming the electricity distribution system to becoming an open local electricity market.
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis has slowed California’s clean energy policy progress, although there is still
an opportunity to enact needed reform through both legislative and regulatory action.
2. Resilient By Design (Free)
Link: https://mailchi.mp/2e938b365b82/thanks-for-attending-now-help-shape-whats-next-716978?e=356524c264
All six installments of the webinar series are now available on our YouTube channel:
Moderator: Cathy J. Simon, FAIA, Architecture + Urbanism
Panelists: Claire Weisz, WXY; Josiah Cain, Sherwood Engineering; Kevin Conger, CMG; Marcel Wilson, Bionic; Veronica Rivera, Field Operations
Moderator: Josh Bradt, San Francisco Estuary Partnership
Panelists: Tim Mollette-Parks, MITHUN; Princess Robinson, Urban Tilth; Juliana Gonzalez, The Watershed Project; John Steere, Contra Costa County; Andrew Clough, West County Wastewater District
Moderator: Amy Hutzel, State Coastal Conservancy
Panelists: John Gibbs, WRT; Gena Wirth, SCAPE; Richard Mullane, HASSELL
Moderator: Kristina Hill, UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design
Panelists: Marquita Price, East Oakland Collective; Khariyyah Shabazz, Higher Ground Neighborhood Development Corporation; Dana Brechwald, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)
Episode Five: Thinking Beyond the Traffic Lane: Envisioning Multi-Benefit Solutions for Major Transportation Climate Adaptation Projects
Moderator: Ratna Amin, Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting USA
Panelists: Claire Bonham-Carter, AECOM; Julio Garcia, Nuestra Casa; Erik Prince, Atlas Labs; Jessica Davenport, State Coastal Conservancy
Moderator: Rupal Sanghvi, HealthxDesign
Panelists: Eric Klinenberg, NYU Institute for Public Knowledge; Saneta deVuono-powell, Ground Works Consulting
3. STORMS Seminar: Reported SW Program Spending in California (Free)
Estimating Benefits and Costs of Stormwater Management in California: Evaluating Reported Spending Through Data Integration
Communities in California fund stormwater management programs to prevent flooding and improve water quality. While stormwater management has been an important investment for decades, only a few studies have estimated overall municipal costs of stormwater programs and infrastructure in the state. As part of ongoing work to improve tools for stormwater management in California, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9 Environmental Finance Center at Sacramento State (EFC at Sacramento State) compiled sources of existing, readily available data on reported stormwater budgets and expenditures to provide an improved estimate of existing activities. Using data from annual program reports published as part of stormwater permit compliance requirements, the study estimated a snapshot of annual spending based on identified reports for over 160 entities, including cities, counties, flood control districts, and port authorities. The findings illustrate the difficulty in assembling costs that are published in varying ways, as well as inconsistencies in publicly available data. Current methods of reporting can be updated to increase accessibility and standardization. While posing additional work for some MS4 permittees, such updates can improve how data is used by local and state agencies. The webinar will describe findings of the study and offer insights for improving future estimates of municipal stormwater management spending in California.
4. Webinar: CWEA-CASA COVID-19: Wastewater Surveillance (Free)
Link: https://events.cwea.org/event/webinar-cwea-casa-covid-19-wastewater-surveillance/
Our COVID-19 webinars continue with another deep dive into the emerging role of wastewater surveillance. Collecting samples from the sewershed and at the treatment plant can help communities track coronavirus and gain early-warning signs about potential community spread.
Hear from leading state, national, and international experts about the latest research at Stanford University, in the State of Michigan, and in Spain. We’ll also set aside time where you can ask questions about how your agency can help support wastewater surveillance.
Speakers and topics
Moderator: Greg Kester, Director of Renewable Resource Programs, CASA
Dr. Alexandria Boehm, Stanford – Update on research, its objectives, and progress to date for wastewater based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater
Dr. Anna Mehrotra and Dr. Greta Zornes, CDM Smith – Update on SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring in Detroit
Dr. Pablo Calabuig – Go Aigua – How Spain Implemented a Large-Scale SARS-COV-2 Sewer Surveillance Program for 10+ million People
Wastewater surveillance is a technique that can help identify within a localized population the distribution (occurrence, trends or hot spots) from asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals and can assist public health officials in their role of making informed policy decisions to mitigate or prevent future spread within a community.