CleanTech

The Luskin Center proposes to develop a CleanTech User Guide that answers the following research questions: 1) what are the best practices that other cities and city partners have employed to successfully target and attract clean technology firms or another specific sector and 2) what descriptive data does the City of Los Angeles need to move forward with its own best practices?  The second phase of the project will seek to systematically evaluate the types of cleantech most appropriate for the City of Los Angeles.

The City of Los Angeles will be the client for this research initiative.  The initiative will support the work of CleanTech Los Angeles, a multi-institutional collaboration between the City of Los Angeles, UCLA, and other academic and organizational partners with the goal to establish Los Angeles as a global leader in research, commercialization, and deployment of clean technologies and green jobs.

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Local Government Climate Action Policies

The Luskin Center’s Program on Local Government Climate Action Policies proposes a full agenda for the upcoming year.  The Program will generate and disseminate new knowledge to support the creation of state policies addressing local emissions, to assist local governments in meeting these new regulatory demands, and to promote best practices in local government climate action policies.  To accomplish these goals, the Program is focused on several research projects.  First, the Program will continue its work to systemically catalog, map, and analyze local climate actions in California to guide effectiveness support for both climate leaders and laggards in California. Second, the Program will continue to advance a more systematic method of modeling greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector with the goal to better evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures.  Related to this effort, the Program seeks to identify the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of various local climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.  Fourth, the Program seeks to develop a climate curriculum for elected officials about the science of climate change, local impacts, mitigation measures, and adaptation strategies.

Civic partners for these research projects include the California Air Resources Board and the Southern California Association of Governments.

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Nanomaterials and Toxic Emissions

The Luskin Center proposes a research initiative to advance health and environmental protections in the field of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). The end product will be a user manual of best practices designed to protect workers and the public.  The initiative will:

1) provide an up-to-date understanding of how industry is currently managing its workplace and environmental concerns in ENMs and best practices in doing so,

2) provide a critical analysis of guidance documents in light of current toxicological assessments, and 3) provide an understanding of the investment needed to adopt recommended policies.  Phase II could involve coordinating on-site monitoring for nanoparticle exposure in laboratories.

Hillary Godwin, Luskin Center Scholar and Professor in the School of Public Health, will be the lead advisor.  Civic partners could include the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and other academic institutions.

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Renewable Energy in Los Angeles

The Luskin Center proposes to continue a research initiative that quantifies the contribution that regional solar power policies can make in meeting Los Angeles’ renewable power goals.  The project will expand on the Luskin Center’s recently released report “Designing an Effective Feed-in Tariff for Los Angeles.”  This report proposes design guidelines for a feed-in tariff─ a policy that requires a utility to buy solar power that residents, businesses, and public organizations produce on their roof tops, parking lots, and vacant land.  Phase II of the research initiative will estimate the amount of solar power and the number of jobs that will be produced within sub-regions of Los Angeles under alternative feed-in tariff designs, as well as the rate payer burden associated with each type of policy.

The lead researchers are Ryan Matulka, Luskin Center Project Manager, and JR DeShazo, Luskin Center Scholar.  Civic partners for this research initiative include the Los Angeles Business Council, the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Gruel, the Los Angeles City Council, and other members of the UCLA convened Solar Working Group.

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Smart Water Systems

The Luskin Center proposes to support a research initiative that will inform solutions for more sustainable and smart water systems.  The goal of the study is to investigate the merits of a distributed infrastructure of urban water sustainability based on point-of-use paradigm to water conservation, reclamation and reuse (RTR). Point-of-source water recycling and reuse has the potential of reducing once-through use of fresh tap water by through the use of on-site gray water collection, treatment and recycling systems. Local sources, albeit limited in southern California, includes groundwater, capturing of rainwater runoff, tile drainage systems, urban gardens, as well as water reuse can all be part of overall urban water-energy sustainability structure.  In the proposed study all aspects of water usage and disposal will be evaluated to identify potential areas for reducing the cost of imported water and improve water quality.  Energy savings due to reduced long-distance water conveyance will be considered in the analysis, as well as the use of renewable energy for local water treatment, recycling and reuse. Policy, regulatory and technical impediments and potential incentives to adoption of POU water sustainability approaches will be evaluated with respect to urban infrastructure issues, cost and environmental quality considerations.

Yoram Cohen, Luskin Center Scholar, Professor in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Director of the UCLA Water Technology Research Center, is the lead researcher on this initiative.

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