Governor Participates in Announcement of Clean Energy Job Training Programs
MR. STEYER:
Thank you, guys, for showing up this morning. I think that we got so accustomed to having fun together that we couldn't stop after the campaign. And, in fact, we thought that it was appropriate that we start to talk about what we were going to do, that we said we were going to do, because this is really about job creation in a clean-energy economy. And that's what we're here to talk about. We're here with people, with policy leaders from both parties, we're here with business people, we're here with people from the labor movement.
And in particular, we're here with the Governor who led the charge to pass Assembly Bill 32, who also stood up against Prop 23, who has provided leadership on environmental issues for a long time, who is somebody who is really committed to this and who, as we go forward and make sure this is actually executed, that we make things happen, he's got to be a huge part of explaining what we're doing and being a part of it -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Well, thank you very much and for letting me explain what this all about. (Laughter)
MR. STEYER:
It's all yours.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
I can't believe it. This is your deal, Tom, OK? (Laughter) So don't put it off to me. I mean, I
First of all, let me just say it's great to be here with a great mayor; Mayor Newsom, thank you very much for being part of this and Mary Nichols from the Air Resources Board and so many other people.
But Tom and I became very good friends because we -- you know, he's a Democrat, I'm a Republican and we wanted to really get the point across, when we were fighting Prop 23, that this is not a political issue. That's all bogus, when people talk about liberals versus conservatives when it comes to the environment, that here's a Democrat, a Republican -- and, of course, I sleep with a Democrat every night, so that's a given anyway. But I mean --
MR. STEYER:
And it's not me. (Laughter)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
You see how quickly he wanted to -- (Laughter) To not get the spotlight on him? Isn't that interesting? He who protests, right?
MR. STEYER:
It's the fog in San Francisco.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Exactly, that's right. (Laughter)
But anyway, so we had this great partnership and we were very successful in doing so. So, you know, as I said to Tom, I said, "There are so many other issues that we can do together," because I don't see things that much as like Democrats, Republicans, I see things as people's issues. And this is one of those things, again, you know, talking about job training, talking about community colleges, talking about the environment, about finding a lighting control, a more sophisticated way that will cut down on energy use.
And, of course, California has been a leader in that. We are, per capita, 40 percent more energy efficient than the rest of the country, so we are very proud of that record. Not just because of my administration but this goes back 30 years. I mean, we have been really leaders in that for many decades already.
And here is another system, a new system that was developed, that is being installed, as a matter of fact, right here at this company and in hospitals and other businesses all over the state of California, that reduces the energy consumption by 50 to 70 percent. Now, just so you know what that means, in most buildings 40 percent of the energy goes to lighting. And so when you make an impact there, that has really a great impact then on what it costs you to use the energy and also in the output of greenhouse gases.
So this is a win, win in every way and again, it's one of those things that Tom and I have been talking about and the Mayor also has been talking about, that you can combine the two things, protecting the environment and also protecting the economy.
But the other thing that I like here is, you know, the idea of training a sales force to go out and sell that idea, because I always believe very strongly that you can have the best product in the world or the best idea in the world but if no one knows about it you have nothing. And so this goes back to selling. You've got to go and market it and sell it.
Of course, when I was going to trade school in Austria I learned how to be a salesman; this was the thing that I learned to do. So this is why, since then, I've learned well enough that everything that you do you have to go out and sell, if it is your movies, if it is fitness, if it is bodybuilding, if it is your Governorship, your philosophy, your programs, your reforms, everything. You always have to be out there and selling.
And so it is the case with this. And so for Tom to put -- how much, $250,000 into this? And there are matching funds and all of this -- to really help to get those people trained, or retrained, because every time there's a new idea coming up you've got to go now and retrain people so they can work in this area. So that is really terrific and it again shows that the perfect thing to do is always and where we achieve the most is if we have a public-private partnership and this is what this is.
And so I'm very, very happy to be here. When Tom asked me to come here and to be part of this I immediately agreed, because I thought it was a brilliant idea to do that. And again, it shows California to be the leaders in that, protect the environment and protect the economy and to create jobs at the same time.
So thank you very much, Tom, for having me here today. And now I want to bring out Mayor Newsom to say a few words. Thank you very much. (Applause)
MAYOR NEWSOM:
Thanks, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Thank you. Let me add my congratulations to Tom and his extraordinary leadership. You know, we are very proud of our Governor and his leadership as he stood strong and supported AB 32 and raised the bar here in California and not just across this nation but around the world.
But that was a threat and peril just a few weeks ago when oil companies from Texas came together and they were going to work to suspend, if not end, the principles that had been advanced under this current administration and the work that had been done by many people in this room and many people you see behind me.
That did not come to shape because of Tom. He came in with an extraordinarily large contribution -- $250,000 is nice but the $5 million that he committed to defeat Proposition 23 really sent a signal to these Texas oil companies that people were serious out here and didn't want to see these greenhouse gas emissions, these rules, these air standards, be rolled back. And Tom, you know all of us owe you a debt of gratitude, our kids and grandkids, for what you did, so thank you. (Applause)
So the Governor -- the Governor has done a magnificent job over the last number of years explaining the "why," why it's important that California needs to continue its leadership in terms of rolling back its greenhouse gas emissions. And we're reinforcing that, why? In the context, not just the air we breathe and not just a cleaner environment but the opportunity, the self-evident opportunity -- it's the issue of jobs and the economy in this debate.
Now the question is the "how." How do we actually get it done? We've got to get into the how business. That's why it's great to see Mary and others here, because we haven't implemented AB 32, we've basically just organized ourselves around setting up the system and the foundation. And recall, AB 32 says we should roll back our greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. It may sound extraordinary -- it certainly sounded that way to these Texas oil companies.
But consider, you're in a city where we have a local Climate Action Plan to roll back our greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent below 1990 by 2012. We already have rolled back our greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels and we achieved that goal in 2008. By the way, that's not just some mayor talking. We were the first city to put our greenhouse gas emissions to a third party to have them analyze this and we unveiled those new numbers just a few months back. They trail by a year and a half or so.
Proving the point the Governor is making, the notion of the tyranny of "Or" versus the genius of "And," that you can grow your economy and preserve and enhance your environment -- the genius of "And." We grew our economy over the last decade or so. We have among the lowest unemployment rates of any of the 58 counties in the state of California. It's because we have dramatically changed the way we produce and consume energy in San Francisco. We lead this state in almost every category -- the most aggressive green building standards, the most aggressive solar program in the country, the most aggressive alternative fuel program in the country, etc. So we know this works. John O'Rourke is here from Local 6. They know it works because it puts their members back to work.
Let me, without taking too much time, because you've got a lot of speakers coming up, just try to distill this, because I think one thing -- and the Governor makes the point -- this is not Democrat or Republican, it's not liberal, conservative, moderates. It's about people coming together. And I think the one issue that we all come together around -- if not the environment, where still there's a debate -- it should be on the issue of jobs in a state with unemployment north of 12 percent.
So if we're nakedly self-interested and all we care about is jobs, then this is exactly the conversation we need to be having, not just the celebration and announcement of 2,500 jobs and down payment on that because of what Tom and other are doing but because of this fundamental fact: You put a billion dollars into a coal plant, you'll generate about 870 jobs. Not bad. You take that same billion dollars and you put it in a nuclear plant, you could generate 1,000 to the highest -- I've never seen numbers north of 1,500 jobs. A little bit better. But you put it in solar, it's 1,900 jobs for that billion dollar investment. Put it into wind, 3,300 jobs are created.
But here's the game changer and here's why I came and at a moment's notice said, "Tom, I'd love to come down to this event." If you want to get serious about jobs in the construction and building trades, which has unemployment north of 30 percent -- that's not underemployment, that unemployment -- then change the way we produce and consume energy as it relates to buildings. One billion dollars invested into upgrading and making buildings more energy efficient generates 7,000 jobs. Those are all the independent analyses that have been done. So the greatest investment you can make from a jobs perspective is investing in energy efficiency.
There are 100 countries around the world now that are more energy efficient than the United States of America. California stands out as the exception but this country has over 100 competitors that are doing more than we're doing.
This is the low-hanging fruit. We can deal with half the greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 by getting serious about energy efficiency. We did it in San Francisco, called "Energy Watch," 32 megawatts reduction in use of energy. When we reached our -- we had a three-year goal; we're already halfway there in 10 months and created jobs. So this is exactly where we need to go and this should bring everybody together in this state. And this is, again, the how, not who is to blame or what to do.
And I really want to just compliment Tom and the team, labor, business, everyone, for recognizing that this is where we need to make the investment. This is where Arnold Schwarzenegger's legacy is actually made real. This is where the legacy that is California is made real and visible in terms of lower energy costs, in terms of a greener, cleaner environment, in terms of better air quality and once again reestablishing California as a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, so thank you all very much for being here. (Applause)
MR. STEYER:
You know, one of the really fun things about No on Prop 23 was meeting all the people in the coalition from around the state from both parties. And you've just heard two inspirational leaders who have been able to explain this message and make people understand what it is we're trying to do, why and why it's important. To listen to them is inspiring and it's an incredible part of this effort.
But the other thing that was really fun in Prop 23 was meeting people who dominate the facts, who don't have a high profile, who are working behind the scenes, who know an enormous amount of information to put all the detail behind the ideas of what we've been trying to do and two of those people are going to talk now.
One of them is a guy named Bernie Kotlier. He's working on this public-private partnership. He's the Director of Sustainable Energy Solutions. So it ends with solutions -- that's what we're here to talk about. And the other person is Delette Olberg, who is the Director of Public Policy at Edison International. When we think about this, when we think about executing it, it's people like this who are dedicated to their jobs, who dominate the facts, who actually get things done. So I'm not sure which order they're going to talk.
MS. OLBERG:
Hi. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. My name is Delette Olberg and I work for Edison International and we're honored to be here to celebrate with you the best that California has to offer. It is a fabulous partnership and all of us are working together toward the common good.
Southern California Edison is pleased to be part of the CALCTP partnership. This partnership, which promotes an ongoing collaboration, is critical to driving advancements in energy efficiency and green technologies. You may wonder why a power company would be involved in a partnership that promotes reduced electricity consumption and the answer is simple. Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to extend our state's energy supplies. We work really hard to get our customers not to buy our product.
SCE has embarked on a program -- (Laughter) SCE has embarked on a program to meet aggressive energy efficiency goals and we are the nation's leader in energy efficiency savings. Over the past five years SCE's energy efficiency programs have saved 6.8 billion kilowatt hours, enough to power 965,000 average Southern California homes for an entire year. During this period the programs have also reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3.4 million metric tons, which is the equivalent of removing 650,000 cars from the road.
During the next three years SCE will help customers save an additional 4.9 billion kilowatt hours, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by yet another 2.4 million metric tons. SCE is strongly committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and partnering with CALCTP will help us to achieve these goals.
Let me give you an example of how our CALCTP Partnership has benefitted our customers. It's not unheard of for a company to spend thousands of dollars purchasing complex lighting control systems only to let those systems go idle or to be underutilized and that is typically because the system was not properly installed or people don't know how to operate the system.
Problems like these compelled SCE to join the CALCTP Partnership and to provide funding to promote proper training, installation and use of these technologies. CALCTP's electrician certification program and sales team will help us to promote CAL -- sorry, CALCTP program goals and to ensure that the systems are operated properly.
The programs have the potential to save our customers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And I will say that we know that the training works. As an example, a CALCTP Partnership contractor and electrician recently installed an office-of-the-future demonstration project at a Brookfield property in Landmark Square Building in Long Beach. When interviewed about the project the foreman said that CALCTP training helped him to understand what to do, how to do it but, more specifically, why it was being done and he said that that was going to be critical to how he moved forward with projects in the future.
And the beauty of this partnership is that we all win. Hundreds of jobs are created, businesses enjoy lower energy costs, utilities realize significant energy efficiency savings and millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be removed from our environment. It's a great example of businesses, workers, utilities, government and the education community working strategically together and it's to the benefit of all Californians.
We could not achieve this individually, as we can achieve it together. We are committed to a long, successful relationship with our CALCTP partners and look forward with great anticipation to achieving future -- I'm sorry -- to what we will achieve in the time to come. Thank you. (Applause)
MR. KOTLIER:
Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity to talk to you today. And I'd like to thank the Governor and the Mayor and, of course, Tom Steyer for all that they've done. And, of course, thank Levi's for providing this great site and hosting this event and for creating an energy efficiency showplace.
I'd like to talk a little bit about CALCTP and the California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program. First of all, CALCTP is an industry collaboration, it's a partnership. It's industry wide and it was founded by Southern California Edison, the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis and the Labor Management Cooperation Committee, which is IBEW and NECA working together. That's management and labor working together. It's an interesting concept and I hope see more of it.
CALCTP quickly expanded to include Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas and Electric, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the California Community Colleges, plus 14 different lighting and lighting control manufacturers and, of course, many other supporters including the California Energy Commission and the Department of Labor. It's a great partnership and it's been particularly great to have a co-chair from Southern California Edison, who has been a great partner in leading this effort and I'd like to recognize Dough Avery, my co-chair. Doug? (Applause)
So today I'd like to give you a few details about the California Advanced Lighting Controls Sales Training Program, which is a really exciting program and we're thrilled to be here. And we'll tell you a few things about it. Of course, you've heard some things about it from some great sources of information already and it's hard to follow those two terrific acts but maybe I could give you a few more details.
First of all, we'll be training and we'll be recruiting sales people in all the major metropolitan areas in California. The people we will be recruiting are unemployed executive sales people. These are sales people who are very well experienced. They've sold enterprise software, corporate jets, commercial real estate, IT infrastructure, all kinds of big-ticket items and services to CEOs and CFOs.
These people really know how to sell already. We're not going to teach them how to sell; we're going to teach them about sustainability and energy efficiency. So you could say that they're the sales cake and we're just going to add a little sustainability frosting. So that's our goal.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Very nice. (Laughter)
MR. KOTLIER:
Thank you, Governor. You made my day. (Laughter)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
We'll be back. (Laughter)
MR. KOTLIER:
OK. So we'll be focusing our resources on teaching them the specifics of sustainability and energy efficiency. The training will consist of 40 hours of immersion in those topics and graduates will be interviewed by electrical contractors and hired to sell sustainable energy projects. Those projects are much like the one you see here at Levi's.
And I'd like to acknowledge the contractors who are going to be hiring those salespeople. We're fortunate to have a group of them here today. We call them the "Wall of Support" for this sales program and I'd like to mention the companies that are represented here: McMillan Electric, Metropolitan Electric, Bass Electric, Total Energy Solutions, Pacific Data Electric, Cupertino Electric, Sprig Electric, Rosendin Electric, Schetter Electric, Collins Electrical, Red Top Electric and Energy ETC. Thank you all. Thank you all for your (Inaudible, applause)
So most exciting will be the results of this program; more economic activity, millions of kilowatt hours saved, thousands of jobs created. And they'll not only be jobs in sales but jobs for contractors and jobs for electricians, the multiplier effect. For every job that's sold by a salesperson, one of these 50 salespersons, there will be thousands of electricians put to work over the next few years and that's very, very exciting.
So the CALCTP Sales Training Program is really terrific because it supports and strengthens a critical link in making our state and nation stronger and more sustainable; that is selling the projects. No matter how many electricians we train -- and we're training 2,300 electricians in CALCTP, thanks to the Department of Labor grant and ARA funds -- but no matter how many we train they don't go to work unless somebody sells the project. And Governor, thank you for emphasizing that point.
Very fortunately for us in California, we have some great leaders who are sold on protecting our environment, strengthening our national security, saving energy and creating jobs. So once again, I'd like to thank Governor Schwarzenegger, Mayor and now Lt. Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, Tom Steyer, for their vision and their leadership. And especially I'd like to thank Tom Steyer for funding this program. Thank you, Tom. (Applause)
MR. STEYER:
You guys, before we go -- and I know we're running a little late -- I just wanted to make one point. This really is about creating good jobs but the way that we're doing it is in a way that makes sense from an investment standpoint. So let me just give a few numbers on that, because we're talking about creating thousands of jobs -- the Mayor talked about it, Bernie talked about it, the Governor talked about it. But it's going to be a good deal for the people who do it.
Levi's -- we did this at Levi's because they're doing this huge project to renovate this building to save money. The payback is three years. They spent a lot of money to do it; a lot of people were employed. They were real jobs, there were construction jobs and electrical jobs. But they're going to get a three-year payback. It's a great deal for Levi's. It's good for their culture, it's good for their bottom line. The normal payback on these kinds of retrofits, without any incentives from the government whatsoever, is five years. With the incentives it goes down to three and a half years.
So what we're really talking about is trying to renovate nine billion square feet of office space in the state of California. It's a huge task; it saves an enormous amount of energy. It's a great deal for the landlords who do it, it's a great deal for the human beings who get to get decent-paying jobs that have a real income.
So as we leave I do want to say thank you to Levi's, I do want to say thank you to all the people who spoke. And I want to point out that Many Nichols, who is at the head of the Air Resources Board, is one of the people who I met in this campaign who is really knowledgeable, really talented and really dedicated and I think not to say that in public is an error. Thank you very much. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
We have another speaker here.
MR. STEYER:
Yeah, Bill.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Bill, yeah. I'm sorry (Inaudible)
MR. MUSGRAVE:
That's all right, that's all right. I'm Bill Musgrave with McMillan Electric. I would say thanks for the introduction but -- (Laughter) Back in my rock and roll days the headliner used to go on last. I think something was a little different at that time. (Laughter)
But thank you, Governor Schwarzenegger, as well and Mayor Newsom, Lt. Governor-elect. I tried to congratulate him upstairs and he said, "Thanks, I think." (Laughter) So we'll see, huh? Anyway, we've been big supporters to the SFECA and wish you all the best of luck.
It's an honor to be here and a privilege, of course. I also wanted to especially thank Mr. Tom Steyer for doing a great job out there. Your commitment toward renewable energy technologies and bringing awareness at the political level in order to make it all more obtainable is quite a commitment and you're doing a great job, so keep it up. Yeah, thank you.
So welcome to Levi Strauss Headquarters. This place looked nothing like this in February of this year; it was a lot different. And it was a great project for us. McMillan Electric built this space, 300,000 square feet, in about seven months. It was a typical high-profile client. They had needs, wants, wishes, great ideas and a budget constraint. (Laughter)
So my first task as the electrical contractor on this thing was to redesign it while still maintaining the integrity of what they were trying to accomplish, which was energy efficiency, lighting controls, everything that they were trying to do. Through the process of that we were able to pull out a half a million dollars in costs on the job and gain the required LEED points, which helped the project. I don't know if I'm supposed to let this out of the bag or not but I do believe they're going for LEED Silver right now and that was a great effort from the entire team.
The point there being is there are lots of types of energy efficient control systems, based upon your actual needs and how you plan on using them. The initial system that was engineered into this job, they weren't really going to use to its full capacity. So what we did is, we stepped back, we talked to some of the people at Levi, figured out how they were going to actually operate the system and we were able to downsize it at that point and by doing that pull out the half a million dollars and still achieve everything that they were trying to achieve. This gave us the opportunity as well to educate them on different systems, which turned into a win/win situation for Levi Strauss. They accomplished everything that they wanted to do and they took the money out of the budget.
This is a good example of how the landscape of our industry is changing and, most of all, people's attitudes towards sustainable energy -- of course, with the help of people like Tom getting out there and spreading the word -- they're becoming more aware and want to be part of something new. We kind of talked about this upstairs with some of the top people at Levi, how their culture is changing and how people are realizing that, you know, sitting in an office space and all of a sudden their lights dimming down a little bit, as opposed to thinking there's a problem or something is wrong they're feeling that they're a part of saving energy and it makes them feel good. And it's very noticeable, to your credit, to the culture that you have here at Levi Strauss.
This new program, it's perfect timing. The California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program is brilliant. New construction is down, so a lot of us -- my competitors and friends behind me -- are working in the retrofit areas more than new construction. Talking to people who want to do the right thing, be more efficient while saving energy and money -- it's a great idea, right? Who doesn't want to do that? But in order to change things and do the right thing we need the willingness to try something new and to try something different. It's an adventure for all of us. However, it requires leaders to take the first step, which is the commitment to renewable energy technologies.
McMillan Electric has been and will stay committed to promoting sustainable solutions, building energy efficient projects at all levels, from the Clean Shore Power Project -- we just had the ribbon cutting with Mayor Newsom a couple weeks ago -- which was the first in the state to get cruise ships off of burning diesel fuel and onto clean shore power -- to the first LEED Platinum-certified project we did at 301 Battery for the Energy Foundation, which was the first LEED Platinum Project in the state.
McMillan Electric will utilize the CALCTP as a hiring pool for trained, qualified, dedicated people that will help our efforts in contributing to a better energy efficient planet, thanks to the work of Tom Steyer.
MR. STEYER:
Thank you. (Applause)
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