Sustainability Issues for California: Water-Energy Nexus
VIEW EVENT DETAILSThe "water-energy nexus" is a relatively new and increasingly urgent issue that has gained prominence within policy-making and business circles in California. Water and energy development are highly fragmented and governed by separate agencies and regulatory authorities. Yet water and energy are interdependent. Not only is water used in power plant operations, but water sector operations account for nearly a quarter of statewide energy consumption. Shortages and supply disruptions in one directly impact the other.
By managing water and energy as an integrated system we can unlock water-energy synergies and reduce consumption of both. At this PCSI forum, sustainability experts from academe, public utilities, and private firms will provide their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of moving California towards a more sustainable future.
Conference Schedule
8:30 - 8:45 Welcome Remarks
James Ellis, Dean, Marshall School of Business, Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California
Introduction to the Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative
Bruce Pickering, Executive Director, Asia Society Northern California Center
8:45 - 9:30 California Water-Energy Issues
Moderator: Daniel A. Mazmanian, Professor & Bedrosian Chair in Governance and Director, Planning & Development, USC
Hilda Blanco, Interim Director, Center for Sustainable Cities, and Research Professor, School of Policy, Planning and Development, USC
Paul Bunje, Associate Researcher and Executive Director of the Center for Climate Change Solutions, University of California, Los Angeles
9:30 - 10:30 California Utilities' Perspectives on the Water-Energy Nexus Challenges
Moderator: Richard Drobnick, Director, Center for International Business Education and Research, Marshall School of Business, USC and Managing Director, APRU World Institute
Steven Kline, Vice President, Corporate Environmental and Federal Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer, Pacific Gas & Electric
Gene Rodrigues, Director, Energy Efficiency & California Solar Initiative, Southern California Edison
10:30 - 11:30 Corporate Sustainability Solutions
Moderator: Randall Love, Principal, Advisory Services, KPMG LLP
John Rego, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Senior Engineering Manager, Amgen
Mark Yamauchi, Manager, Facilities Operations, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc.
11:30 - 11:50 California's Renewable Energy and Sustainability Future: Focus on Water
Woodrow Clark, Managing Director, Clark Strategic Partners and Co-Recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, along with his colleagues of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore's documentary
11:50 - 12:00 Global Issues Award Presentation to USC Marshall School of Business Student Teams
Sustainability & Business: Student Paper Competition
Jolanta Aritz, Associate Professor Clinical of Management Communication
Marion Philadelphia, Assistant Professor Clinical of Management Communication
12:00 Conference Closes
Speakers
James Ellis
Dean, Marshall School of Business, Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California
Los Angeles
James G. Ellis was appointed dean of the USC Marshall School of Business and holder of the Robert R. Dockson Dean's Chair in Business Administration in April 2007. As dean, he is responsible for the education of some 5700 students, both graduate and undergraduate. In addition, he holds a full time appointment as Professor of Marketing in the Department of Marketing, where he has been since 1997.
Prior to being appointed Dean, he was the Vice Provost, Globalization, for the University, responsible for building the USC name worldwide. He also served as the Vice Dean, External Relations, at the Marshall School of Business, as well as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. He continues to teach the Freshman Leadership Colloquium class. From 1998 to 2003, he served as the Director of the Family Business Program for four years, running seminars for families in business.
Holding an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and a BBA degree from the University of New Mexico, Mr. Ellis worked in the corporate world from 1970 to 1997. He served as President/CEO of Porsche Design, a high-end accessories company owned by Europe's Porsche family, from 1985-1990. From 1990-1997, he was Chairman/CEO of Port O'Call Pasadena, an upscale home accessory retailer, as well as being an owner/ partner in six other companies.
Mr. Ellis was a member of Young Presidents Organization for fourteen years, serving his San Gabriel Valley Chapter twice as Chapter Chairman as well as being Regional Vice President, and a member of the International Board of Directors for six years. He is also the Past Chairman of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.
Ellis sits on numerous corporate and non-profit boards of directors. He has addressed many organizations around the world on various business topics. At USC in 2003, he was awarded both the "Teaching Has No Boundaries" award, given by the faculty, and the Golden Apple Award, given by the students. In 2004, was given the Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award from the USC Parents' Association.
Bruce Pickering
Executive Director, Northern California Center
The Asia Society
Bruce Pickering is the executive director of Asia Society's Northern California Center since 2003, with a background in government, non-profit organizations and academia. Previously, he was director of public affairs and development at the graduate school of journalism and special assistant to the director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He also served as program director of the World Affairs Council (1997-1999) and executive director of the U.S. Japan 21st Century Project. Earlier in his career, he served as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, specializing in Political and Arms Control issues (1981-1993), and was deputy political counsel on the U.S. delegation to the Conference on security and cooperation in Vienna during the collapse of the Soviet Union (1988-1992). He serves as executive director of the California State Assembly International Relations Foundation Board.
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Daniel A. Mazmanian
Professor & Bedrosian Chair in Governance and Director
The Judith and John Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise School of Policy
Planning & Development, USC
Daniel A. Mazmanian, previously served as USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development's C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor. Before coming to USC, he was dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, and previous to that was the first director of the Center for Politics and Economics at the Claremont Graduate University.
Professor Mazmanian is a widely published scholar in the field of policy implementation and, in particular, environmental policy. His research has been focused on the transition to the greening of industry and on sustainable communities. He has received the Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award from the American Political Science Association, and the Thomas R. Dye Service Award from the Policy Studies Organization.
Professor Mazmanian is the former president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs Administration (NASPAA). He is currently a senior associate of the California Institute of Public Affairs and a member of the Task Force on Environmental Governance of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. He serves on the board of directors of the California Center for Regional Leadership, and is a trustee of the John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation. Ph.D. in Political Science Washington University, St. Louis.
Areas of expertise: Environmental policy, policy implementation, sustainable communities, political science.
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Hilda Blanco
Research Professor and Interim Director
Center for Sustainable Cities School of Policy, Planning & Development
University of Southern California
Hilda Blanco is Research Professor and Interim Director of the Center for Sustainable Cities in SPPD. She is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, where she served as Chair of the department from 2000-2007. Her work focuses on climate change, urban growth management, brownfields policy, and decision-making and planning theories. Her published works include How to Think About Social Problems: American Pragmatism and the Idea of Planning (Greenwood Press 1994), and recent articles in Progress in Planning, Journal of Emergency Management, Urban Studies, and Technology and Society. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Planning Education and Research and the Journal of Emergency Management. Dr. Blanco holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Classics from the City College of New York, a Masters in City and Regional Planning and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Paul Bunje
Associate Researcher and Executive Director of the Center for Climate Change Solutions
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
University of California, Los Angeles
Paul is the Executive Director of the UCLA Center for Climate Change Solutions as well as the Managing Director of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability. In both roles, he works to bridge the gap between research science and decision makers to help society respond and adapt to the challenges of climate change. His areas of expertise are Biodiversity, Climate, Environment, Public Policy.
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Richard Drobnick
Director, Center for International Business Education and Research
USC Marshall School of Business and Managing Director,
Association of Pacific Rim Universities World Institute
Drobnick is the founding director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the Marshall School of Business. From 1994-2005, Drobnick served as USC's Vice Provost for International Affairs; from 1982-1994, he was Director of the IBEAR MBA Program. Drobnick is the Managing Director of the APRU World Institute, an institute founded in 2006 to produce interdisciplinary research on issues of critical importance to Pacific Rim policy makers. From 2006-2010, he was a Visiting Professor of Global Studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Drobnick is also a Secretary General Emeritus and a member of the Steering Committee of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the association of presidents of 42 leading Pacific Rim research universities.
Drobnick is a member of the United States Asia Pacific Council, which is the organizing institution for the United States National Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Executive Committee of the Advisory Council of the Asia Society's Southern California Center, and a director of the Japan-America Society of Southern California. From 1967-69, Drobnick served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia, as a management advisor to the Farmers Association Movement, which was developed by Malaysia's Department of Agriculture.
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Steven L. Kline
Vice President, Corporate Environmental and Federal Affairs
and Chief Sustainability Officer
PG&E Corporation
Steven L. Kline is Vice President of Corporate Environmental and Federal Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for PG&E Corporation. He is responsible for environmental policy activities for PG&E Corporation, as well as for oversight of the corporation's Washington, D.C., office. Kline also serves as the senior liaison with federal elected and regulatory officials.
Kline joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1980. After holding a series of positions of increasing responsibility in the utility's Regulatory and Corporate Planning organizations, he was elected to his current position with PG&E Corporation in 1998. Prior to his current position, he was Vice President of Regulation at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, responsible for overseeing federal and state regulatory activities, revenue requirements and cost of services.
Kline was a participant in the California Collaborative that, in January 1990, produced the Energy Efficiency Blueprint for California, a guide for California to reassert its leadership in energy efficiency. In addition to his duties at PG&E Corporation, Kline serves on the Boards of the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance, Advisory Council for Resources for the Future and Executive Leadership Council for The Nature Conservancy. Kline is also on the Board of Trustees at Coe College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in international politics and economics. He holds a master's degree in diplomacy from The Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at The University of Kentucky and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business.
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Gene Rodrigues
Director of Energy Efficiency
Southern California Edison Company
Gene Rodrigues is the Director of Energy Efficiency for Southern California Edison Company (SCE). In this capacity, Rodrigues is responsible for SCE's portfolio of Energy Efficiency, Low Income Energy Efficiency, Low Income Rate Assistance, California Solar Initiative and Self Generation Incentive programs. Rodrigues also serves on the boards of directors for the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance. Additionally, Rodrigues serves on the Leadership Group for the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, a voluntary initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is a member of California's Low Income Oversight Board.
Randall K. Love
Principal
Advisory Services - Financial & Business Performance Services
KPMG
Mr. Love assists global clients with business transformations, financial due diligence, value creation, change readiness, market entry, and advanced business models. Mr. Love also leads West China Practice and coordinates client-based activities both here in the US and China.
Mr. Love has served in a variety of leadership roles with responsibilities for both internal operating results and delivering exceptional value to his clients. He also speaks on world-class business transformations, value creation, risk management, change readiness, and advanced business models, systems and productivity tools to professional associations at the national and local levels.
Prior to joining KPMG, Mr. Love served as a consulting partner for over 16 years with Ernst & Young LLP, and as Vice-President with CapGemini/E&Y, EDS and Mercer Management Consulting. Mr. Love holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Kansas State College and is a graduate of the Executive Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School. He lives in Palos Verdes Estates, California with his wife Jan and their three daughters and enjoys a variety of hobbies including golf, snow skiing, trout fishing and open-air concerts.
John Rego
Director of Environmental Sustainability
Sony Pictures Entertainment
John Rego joined Sony Pictures in 2009 after eight years consulting both in the energy industry and in the design of sustainability programs for organizations worldwide. His consulting experience has led him to be involved in a variety of sectors such as consumer products, technology, electronics, energy, and education. In 2007, he was Environmental Director and eco-spokesperson for Live Earth, Al Gore's worldwide campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. At Sony Pictures, Rego drives business strategy and programs in pursuit of achieving Sony's sustainability goals.
Mark Yamauchi
Facilities Operations Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA
In his capacity as Facilities Operations Manager at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Mark Yamauchi manages a portfolio of diverse facilities types ranging from office space to parts and vehicle distribution centers. In addition, Mark heads up strategic initiatives crossing inter and intradepartmental organizations that focus on environmental sustainability and operational efficiencies and is a US Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional.
As the lead manager for Toyota's sustainability and LEED efforts for the South Campus headquarters campus expansion, Mark was instrumental in directing the project team's efforts that resulted in a "deep" Gold level certification.
Mark also managed the installation of Toyota's 536 kW Photovoltaic solar panel system. This was the first pilot of this technology to generate electricity from sunlight and is located at Toyota's Torrance headquarters campus.
More recently, Mark implemented the waste management program that brought the Toyota's national headquarters campus to zero-waste-to-landfill status. As a part of Toyota's overall environmental stewardship efforts, this program has recently been recognized by being awarded California Integrated Waste Management Board's 2006 Waste Reduction Awards Program WRAP of The Year and 2007 Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.
Mark has over 25 years of experience in real estate and facilities and has provided advice on sustainability to numerous organizations including non-profits, major corporations, and governments on the municipal, national, and international level. Mark also sits on the Advisory Board of the UCLA Engineering Extension Environmental Sustainability / Recycling and MSW Management Programs.
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Woodrow Clark
Managing Director, Clark Strategic Partners and Co-Recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
along with his colleagues of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore's documentary.
Dr. Clark, a long-time advocate for the environment and renewable energy, is an internationally recognized author, lecturer and advisor specializing in sustainable communities. In December 2007, Dr. Clark was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, along with his colleagues of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore's documentary.
In 2004, he founded Clark Strategic Partners (CSP), an environmental and renewable energy consulting firm using his political-economic expertise in order to guide, advice and implement public and private clients worldwide - specifically on sustainable development for communities ranging from schools, colleges and universities to small and large cities. He is author of five books, two of them on Sustainable Communities (Springer Press, December 2009) and a Design Handbook (Elsevier Press, June 2010) with a global sequel due in the summer of 2011. His next book is on The Third Industrial Revolution (Praeger Press, winter 2011) and as Co-Editor and Author for a Special Issue of Contemporary Economic Policy on "Global Cases in Energy, Environment, and Climate Change: Some Challenges for the Field of Economics" in the winter of 2011.
Prior to launching CSP, Dr. Clark had created a mass media company (Clark Communications) in San Francisco during the 1980s and a Lecturer at California State University, Hayward (now East Bay) and the Managing Director of the Center for New Venture Alliances. He was the Manager of Strategic Planning for Technology Transfer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (University of California and U.S. Department of Energy) from 1994-1999. Then from 1999-2000, he was a Visiting Professor of Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship at Aalborg University, Denmark, where he had been a Fulbright Fellow in 1994. Then due to the California energy crisis, he was asked by senior staff of Governor Gray Davis to come and serve as the Senior Advisor on Renewable Energy, Emerging Technologies, and Finance from 2000-2003. Dr. Clark has two grown children and with Andrea, his current wife, Andrea Kune, a 3-year old baby boy, Paxton, born on the day that Clark got the Noble Peace Prize.
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Jolanta Aritz
Associate Professor of Clinical Management Communication
USC Marshall School of Business
Jolanta Aritz conducts research on small group communication, cross-cultural issues, and business discourse. She has published in the International Journal of Knowledge, Culture, and Change Management, Journal of Applied Linguistics, and International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations. She worked as a translator and interpreter for various American businesses abroad, and her academic and cultural background makes her a valuable resource for business students with an interest in international business. Professor Aritz is an academic advisor for the Marshall School of Business Undergraduate Cohort Program and Marshall Consulting Program. Education: PhD, University of Southern California; MA, University of Illinois - Chicago; BA, Vilnius University.
Marion Philadelphia
Assistant Professor of Clinical Management Communication
USC Marshall School of Business
Marion Philadelphia has spent much of her professional career in public relations, journalism, and marketing for the entertainment industry. She was involved in the creative development of large scale international projects for the leisure industry. She edited and translated works of non-fiction and contributed to Cal Tech's Einstein Papers Project. She is the author of a historic novel, which was published in German by Bertelsmann-Blanvalet/Random House. A native of Germany, bilingual and bicultural, Marion is particularly interested in Global Communication and has unique expertise in addressing the needs of international, transfer and minority students. She joined Marshall in 2002 and teaches a variety of courses at the Center for Management Communication. Education: M.A. University of Hamburg, Germany 1989.
Seminar Descriptions
Introduction to the Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative: Water-Energy Nexus
The Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative (PCSI) is a collaborative forum founded to promote sustainability in the Pacific Rim. Each year PCSI will produce a series of sustainability programs to foster ongoing dialogue to inspire and facilitate best practices and collaborations between stakeholders in the Pacific Rim.
This PCSI program will address the water-energy nexus, a new area of sustainability that has gained prominence in policy making circles and the business community in California. Water and energy systems are interdependent: not only is energy used to transport, treat, heat, and cool water, but water is an essential component of power plant operations for cooling and for carbon-free hydropower. In addition, population growth and climactic changes are further straining water resources, requiring more complex, energy-intensive water treatment and delivery systems to compensate for limited supplies.
By managing water and energy as a whole, integrated system we can unlock water-energy synergies and reduce consumption of both resources simultaneously. Sustainability experts from academe, public utilities, and private firms will provide their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities at the nexus of water-energy.
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Water-Energy Issues in California
California faces many challenges of meeting increasing demand for both water and energy amidst dwindling supplies. So far, California has managed these deficits with energy-intensive infrastructure projects, including dams and water transfer projects. Is this the best way to address these shortages? Where are water-energy opportunities most promising? Is there a timetable for addressing our waste-energy problems before they become more acute?
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Utilities Perspectives on Water-Energy Nexus Challenges
Despite the close linkage between water and energy systems, water and energy governance is highly fragmented in California. Water and energy utilities are separate agencies governed by different regulatory authorities. How, then, can utilities cooperate with each other to capture water-energy synergies? How does the nexus of water and energy fit into utilities' existing sustainability policies, including greenhouse gases and renewable energy? What water-energy opportunities are utilities most interested in pursuing, and what have been efforts to date? What best practices, if any, can California share with other Pacific Rim societies?
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Corporate Sustainability Solutions
Corporate sustainability is a new and evolving management paradigm that maximizes shareholder value by embracing opportunities (and managing risks) associated with economic, environmental and social developments. Different from the traditional growth and profit-maximization model, much greater emphasis is being placed on environmental performance...and the public reporting on this performance.
A key metric for corporate sustainability performance includes the efficient use of natural capital, such as water and energy. This "eco-efficiency" is typically accomplished by the timely delivery of quality products, while reducing ecological impacts and resource usage throughout the life-cycle.
Corporate decision-making and "behavior" related to sustainability solutions are now directly linked to the reputation and value of being a sustainable corporation. Critical questions for today's corporate leaders include the following:
What policies and procedures exist to integrate sustainability principles in corporate plans?
Are sound environmental management and sustainability activities built into companies operations?
How is "conservation" achievement measured?
Given that clean energy and water are in short supply, what are the best ways to avoid costly waste and inefficiency?
What "partnerships" are required to facilitate the path to a "green corporation"? Do private firms need to "partner" with public utilities and/or with city and regional governments?
Do current regulations facilitate (or hinder) the drive to corporate sustainability?
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Sustainability & Business: Student Paper Competition
In the fall semester undergraduate teams from selected sections of "Advanced Writing for Business" class (WRIT 340) participated in the USC Marshall Undergraduate Team Paper Competition: "Sustainability and Business," sponsored by CIBER. Students analyzed, researched challenges and needs and made recommendations in regards to sustainability and Corporate Citizenship in different parts of the world. Winning proposals detail how U.S. companies with operations at home or in other countries can improve their operations by implementing processes that further sustainability, or how they can otherwise contribute to sustainability in that region.
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Global Health and Business: Student Presentation Competition
Health matters to everyone. For the second year, undergraduate BUAD 302 Business Communication Strategy students in the Marshall School of Business have been challenged to address real-world, global health problems by way of team competitions in this course. Health industry professionals evaluate the soundness of recommendations and they decide the two winning teams. It is naive to think that health problems are easily remedied - such is the nature of health-health has no borders. Thus, each student team has confronted the complexities of global health by analyzing, researching and developing strategic business recommendations on a specific health centric issue. Health problems have such global, political, social, environmental, and economic impacts that it is naive to think they can be assigned to one region of the world. Thus, the competition provides students with an opportunity to observe how global health impacts the lives of many and why it continues to be a real-world concern.
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