News

Chai Energy, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based startup reimagining the "Internet of Things" space. Chai CEO Cole Hershkowitz spoke with VX News about the company's remarkable growth since he sat on a VerdeXchange 2015 plenary panel in January. He highlights Chai's focus on data interpretation, noting that the company begins by looking at the problems people encounter with their devices in the home. Helping resolve those issues, Hershkowitz explains, results in reduced energy consumption and savings for customers.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and Governor Jerry Brown welcomed mayors and governors from across China and the United States to Los Angeles in September to sign the US-China Climate Leaders Declaration. The document focuses on the role of sub-national governments in setting ambitious climate-change goals and then meeting those targets. Here, VX News presents edited excerpts from a press event at the US-China Climate Leaders Summit, featuring a collection of US mayors and Governor Brown.

Los Angeles Times Publisher Austin Beutner and California Governor Jerry Brown engaged this month in a dialogue about the state's drought and climate-change challenges to come during "Water in the West," held at USC. Brown delves into an explanation of the Bay Delta tunnels and the challenges of water governance in California. VX News offers edited selections from the event, beginning with an introduction by USC President Dr. C.L. Max Nikias.

Last week, Pope Francis joined a long line of his predecessors by issuing new Catholic teachings on a contemporary subject. The 184-page encyclical, called “Laudato Si’” or “Praise Be To You: On Care for Our Common Home” called on people across the world to address the serious threat of climate change. Pope Francis intertwines religious texts and science, making the case for anthropogenic warming as well as other harms caused to the planet by humans. In these excerpts selected by VerdeXchange News, Pope Francis urges nations to join together through international agreements, transforming their economies to prevent further destruction.

VX News presents an edited transcript of the panel “Peak Oil and Green Energy: Both Fossils?” from the Milken Institute’s Global Conference, April 26-29 in Santa Monica. Moderated by Greg Dalton, host of the podcast ClimateOne, the panel features Ian Wright, CEO of Wrightspeed and co-founder of Tesla; Cathy Zoi, director of the Energy Transformation Collaborative at Stanford and incoming CEO of SunEdison’s Rural Electric Company; and Scott Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Generate Capital. They discuss the death of the “peak oil” issue, the challenges facing the popularization of clean energy technology, and whether the renewable energy industry really needs a technological breakthrough—or just a change in the way it does business.

The VerdeXchange 2015 opening plenary “The Future is Now—The Green Economy Going to Scale” considered the remaining work to be done by government and business as “sustainability” becomes mainstream. VX News provides edited excerpts of the discussion here, featuring California State Senator Robert Hertzberg, US Congressman Earl Blumenauer, President and CEO of California ISO Steve Berberich, and EPCOR Utilities Board Member and Former Mayor of Long Beach Bob Foster. They consider whether the federal government can be a useful partner in sustainability projects; how technology is creating more decentralized, self-contained systems; and how both public and private institutions will have to reevaluate their roles in the future green economy.

As state and local bodies scramble to accommodate the California drought by regulating use and reconsidering traditional sources of water, suppliers must adjust to changing conditions. In this interview, VX News asks Jeff Kightlinger, General Manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, about the implications for the region. Kightlinger comments on options for meeting supply needs, including desalination and stormwater capture. He also notes that despite potential conflict over water sources between urban and rural areas, ultimately collaboration—and an agreement to share the burden of behavioral change—will be necessary to get to goal.

Governor Jerry Brown appeared at the “Navigating the American Carbon World” conference in Los Angeles on April 29, 2015 to speak about his executive order on greenhouse gas reduction. The most ambitious reduction goal in North America, it calls for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2030. VX News offers an edited transcript of his remarks here. In the face of national skepticism and scattered international priorities, Gov. Brown calls on California business leaders to respond to the climate change crisis by innovating, creating, and cooperating. By rising to the challenge he has set, Gov. Brown says California can show the world that fighting climate change is good business, good government, and good economics.

The VerdeXchange 2015 Conference held in Downtown LA featured a panel focusing on sustainability efforts to clean goods movement at the San Pedro Bay ports. Moderated by the Port of Los Angeles’s former Director of International Trade Stephen Cheung (now president of World Trade Center Los Angeles), the discussion offered perspectives from California Air Resources Board Commissioner Hector De La Torre, Port of Long Beach Chief Commercial Officer Noel Hacegaba, and Southern California Gas Company Environmental Policy Manager Jerilyn Lopez Mendoza. VX News includes their edited contributions here, covering CARB’s Sustainable Freight Strategy, the ports’ Clean Truck Program, and the potential role of natural gas in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.