I had a fantastic (Valentine’s) Day at the Energy Innovation Conference: Sustainable Cities event, hosted by UCLA Anderson Center for Impact and the UCLA Energy & Cleantech Association. 💡🏙️ Here are my personal highlights:
✅️ Keynote speaker David Hochschild (California Energy Commission) kicked off the day with some inspiring snapshots. There are now more EV chargers than gasoline nozzles in California. Improvements in battery storage, wind, and solar (now the cheapest energy source!) helped California achieve 100% clean electricity for 219 days in 2024 (for at least part of the day). California has always led the way in sustainability, regardless of who was in federal office.
✅️ I loved hearing Becky Dale of LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games and Nurit Katz discuss how the Olympics & Paralympics of 2028 are taking a "no-build" approach with a circularity lens, incorporating second-life requirements into bids. Alongside other ambitious goals like prioritizing transit, encouraging reuse, and ensuring event funds benefit small & local businesses make me excited for the potential of the sustainability paradigm shift 2028 could bring to LA.
✅️ On the Building Sustainable Cities panel with Shana Bonstin of the LA's Dept. of City Planning, Melissa Gutierrez-Sullivan of CIM Group, and Jack Symington of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), and moderator Tim Kawahara, I was interested to hear how outdated zoning laws have been rewritten to encourage density in downtown LA.
✅️ During the Sustainable Mobility in LA session, Eli Lipmen of Move LA, Heather Repenning of Los Angeles Metro, Jeral Poskey of Swyft Cities, and moderator ANASTASIA LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS, I learned that opinions on LA Metro (which transports 1 million rider every day) are often shaped by people who don’t use it. My takeaway? Ride the bus. It’s better than you may think.
✅️ The Public-Private Partnerships for Climate-Resilient Communities panel tackled the 2025 LA firestorm, the history of insurance & public utilities, and how they could shape rebuilding efforts. I was moved by Nina Knierim's (CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort)) powerful words around individual & collective action in the wake of LA’s collective trauma.
✅️ BONUS HIGHLIGHT: Seeing all my HeyClimate friends! Amanda, Shan, Katherine, Isaac, and Narayan. Check out HeyClimate's brand new climatemap.la to find climate events near you.
A huge thank you to everyone who made this event possible! As Dean Antonio Bernardo said at the beginning of the day: “We have the motivation and the might to lead the charge.” 🚀
#Sustainability #CleanEnergy #UrbanPlanning #ClimateAction #Transportation #SustainableCities #LosAngeles #EnergyInnovatio