San Diego

Contact | Mission | Agenda | Past Accomplishments | What’s in the Works | Future Goals | Steering Committee | Partner Organizations | How You Can Help

In partnership with

CONTACT Top

San Diego Apollo Alliance

Heather Honea, PhD
Phone: (619) 594-4308
Fax: (619) 594-3272
San Diego State University
College of Business Administration

MISSION Top

The mission of the San Diego Apollo Alliance, a coalition of organized labor, community, environmental groups, and environmentally-minded individuals, is to promote the manufacturing and implementation of renewable and green technologies in the San Diego region. By educating the public as to why this new green economy will improve the quality of life, create good-quality jobs and training, promote sustainable communities, and preserve natural resources, we will reduce our region’s dependence on fossil fuels.

AGENDA Top

San Diego Apollo incorporates two main concepts into its program:

• Workforce development issues that go hand-in-hand with future renewable energy planning.
• Local assets such as apprenticeship programs and existing renewable energy/energy efficiency programs, to be assessed and then cultivated into new programs and initiatives.

SAN DIEGO POLICY LANDSCAPE Top

• San Diego is the eighth largest city in California. The region is served by one private utility, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDGE), a Sempra Energy Company.
• San Diego’s Regional Energy Strategy (RES) document defines the role of renewable energy resources in the overall energy mix for the region. The RES calls for 40 percent of the electricity supply to be met by renewable resources by 2030, and of these renewable resources, 50 percent should come from within San Diego County.
• Currently, the RES is being updated and further discussions regarding resources in the region are being discussed through the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)-Energy Working Group.

Future policies should address the following key infrastructure issues facing San Diego County:

• Continued increases in natural gas and electricity prices—energy cost stabilization.
• Fragmented energy infrastructure planning in the region.
• Tremendous uncertainty regarding energy supply and demand.
• Highly uncertain market design.
• Creating a flexible electric and natural gas resource portfolio.
• Developing indigenous generation and repowering local plants to achieve a minimum of in-County generation.
• Evaluating alternative transmission options to improve reliability and price stabilization.
• The cost to create cleaner energy sources.
• Expanding the role of energy efficiency, demand response, renewables and distributed generation.
• Limiting the risks of heavy reliance on natural gas.

PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS Top

• The San Diego Apollo effort focuses on the need for, and solution to, energy independence in context. We have worked to develop a concept that would demonstrate how it can be done if we dare to have vision.

• In July 2004, we held an initial PR event to introduce Apollo Alliance in the San Diego Region.

• In August 2007, we prepared an economic impact research brief titled Electricity Supply and Price Security in San Diego County: A Comparison of Strategies for the Production of Electricity and Elimination of Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
  

• We have educated the public on investment in renewable/sustainable and energy efficient technologies and activities.

We have also drafted labor, community, and environmental standards for renewable energy projects:

Labor standards

The long-term health and vitality of our region’s economy depends on what kinds of jobs we create for our region’s residents. Achieving energy independence can be an engine of job growth to create and retain good union jobs with family-supporting wages. A successful Apollo project demands that we employ skilled and trained workers in all sectors of the energy industry. The San Diego Regional Apollo Alliance supports energy projects and policies that meet the following job standards:

• Use of trained workers who are graduates of State-approved, registered apprenticeship programs that have at least a 60% graduation rate over the last 5 years.
• Payment of prevailing or living wages with adequate health coverage.
• Respect for workers’ right to organize.
• A safe and healthy work environment: 20% of workers should be OSHA-10 certified.
• Adherence to quality standards for installation of solar and other energy technologies.

Community standards

Sustainable energy production and practices can be a valuable engine of economic development. The standards outlined below help ensure that the economic benefits from that development stay in the communities that host energy projects and go to communities that are most in need of economic development.

• Local residents must be given preference for jobs created by energy development in a community.
• Public investments in energy development must return value to the local community.
• Public policy measures should be instituted to ensure that jobs created by sustainable energy industry development go to communities that have high unemployment rates and are most in need of economic development.
• Internships and youth on-site training programs for jobs in local energy production and development should be offered.
• Public transportation should be widely available and should be subsidized given the environmental and economic development benefits it creates.
• Communities affected by decisions regarding energy production and consumption must have a say in the decisions that affect them.

Environmental standards

Renewable energy technologies offer tremendous benefits in terms of protecting public health and the environment. All energy technologies, however, have some negative environmental impacts. It is critical that as we develop new technologies, we do so in a manner that maximizes environmental benefits, and minimizes negative environmental impacts. The San Diego Regional Apollo Alliance supports energy projects and policies that:

• Reduce air and water pollution and maximize protection of public and ecosystem health.
• Favor energy technologies that run on truly renewable and clean fuel sources.
• Burning of solid biomass (like wood waste) should not be a preferred energy source given the air and water pollution it creates, and the fact that recycling or composting of such products is an environmentally superior alternative.
• Geothermal energy must use technologies that minimize air and water pollution. Unsustainable depletion of geothermal reservoirs must be avoided.
• Ensure that solar panel and other renewable energy technology manufacturing and installation is done in a manner that minimizes the use of toxics and protects worker safety and public health.
• Promote environmental justice and ensure that communities that have been impacted by traditional energy technologies receive a fair share of the benefits from renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.
• Prevent importation of substandard energy sources from other regions of the US or from Mexico to meet local San Diego energy needs.

WHAT’S IN THE WORKS Top

• San Diego Apollo Alliance is joining forces with San Diego State University MBA Graduate Program to create the Green Collar Jobs and Resource Assessment.  The Green Collar Jobs and Resource Assessment will study the region’s competitive advantage taking into account geography, natural resources, manufactured resources, education, workforce, climate patterns, and energy needs.
• Community program: Establish green job development
• Policy/Political program: Seek financial mechanisms as investment strategy

“The conversation about PV (solar) should be altered to treat solar installations as infrastructure. No one person can pay for this type of infrastructure. Much like traditional infrastructure, such as utilities and roads, it takes a group of people or a community to pay their fair share of the costs for the infrastructure to benefit the whole, or everyone.” - Dr. Heather Honea, Co-Chair, San Diego Apollo Alliance

FUTURE GOALS Top

1. Identify, facilitate, and promote opportunities to develop sizable and diverse in-region renewable energy.

2. Develop and implement standards for green construction and retrofits in San Diego that exceed current regulations, certifications, and programs.

3. Attract renewable energy industry and R&D to San Diego.

4. Promote transmission and renewable projects and distributed renewable generation.

5. Promote energy efficiency programs and the manufacturing and installation of energy efficient technologies.

6. Promote smart growth and affordable housing in San Diego.

7. Promote incentives for clean and efficient vehicles locally, and alternative transportation that does not pollute the environment.

8. Investigate opportunities for promoting hydrogen fuel cells for renewable energy storage.

9. Build a local workforce to fulfill the growing needs created by the new green economy (card check, no undercutting of union standards, etc.).

STEERING COMMITTEE Top

Jim Bell, Coalition for Sustainability
Heather Honea, PhD, San Diego State University-School of Business
Laura Hunter and Leo Miras, Environmental Health Coalition
Elaine Kennedy, Coalition of Neighborhood Councils
Michael Kojis, Labor Council
Micah Mitrosky, San Diego Sierra Club
Al Shur and Jennifer Badgley, IBEW Local #569

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS Top

Science Department, Mira Mesa High School
National Association of Electrical Contractors (NECA)
San Diego Building Trades

HOW YOU CAN HELP Top

Send an email to Jaconsultants(at)aol.com.