BWP: Smart Grid

Burbank Water and Power Selects Trilliant for Smart Grid Advanced Metering Infrastructure
PRWeb: January 7, 2011

Trilliant Incorporated, a Smart Grid communications provider and leader in delivering solutions that enhance energy efficiency, utility operations, and renewable resource integration, today announced that it has successfully completed its pilot and has now been selected to implement the smart metering communications infrastructure at Burbank Water and Power in Burbank, CA. Burbank Water and Power (BWP) is a community-owned utility that has served the business and residents of Burbank with water and power since 1913.

BWP, a recipient of an American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Grant, deployed approximately 1,000 commercial and residential meters during Phase I of its Smart Grid pilot program. As part of the initial deployment, all of BWP’s customers using 250 kW and above were converted to time-of-use rates. BWP relied on Trilliant’s SecureMesh™ communications infrastructure and UnitySuite™ head-end software to automate meter reading and deliver daily reports on late meters, outages, meter tampering, and more.

The next phase of BWP's Smart Grid program will deploy smart meters to all remaining business and residences in the utility area by year end 2011 amounting to more than 50,000 meters. BWP will utilize Trilliant’s solution to help manage service requests, customer inquiries, meter reading and service interruptions. READ MORE !

COB: Solar Energy

Solar energy installations heat up
Rebates from Burbank Water and Power draw in customers, and the number of systems have increased in last two years.
Burbank Leader: January 1, 2011 by Gretchen Meier

Spurred on by consumer rebates, Burbank Water and Power has seen a doubling in the number of solar installations in the past two years.

There are now 93 solar energy systems in Burbank, compared to 36 in July of last year, and nearly all were funded with grant money from the utility. Twenty-two additional systems are in the pipeline, officials say.

Combined, the solar panels generate more than 2,000 kilowatts of clean energy — enough electricity to power nearly 1,000 homes for a full year.

Burbank Water and Power brought 19 residential and four commercial solar energy systems online in 2010, according to solar support program manager said John Joyce, a solar support program manager for the utility.

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Local businesses are hopping on the solar train: Costco on Burbank Boulevard flipped the switch on its solar energy installation in November and IKEA has plans for its own panel system in 2011.

Costco's solar energy project will cover about 20% its electricity requirements and generate about 850,000 kilowatt-hours of energy annually, making it the largest such project in the city, said Burbank Water and Power General Manager Ron Davis.

IKEA's project will be roughly half the size in terms of output, according to the utility.

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Burbank Water and Power has already started construction on a 240-kilowatt solar powered parking structure on North Lake Street between West Olive Avenue and West Magnolia Boulevard. READ MORE !

Green Day Planner: January 2011

Burbank Library Green Pages
January 2011 Calendar

Calendar of Green Events in Burbank and Greater LA. Check out State and National events on the Green Day Planner.

Burbank
Ja 5: Greening Your Restaurant/Food Service Part 1 Burbank Green Alliance @ Burbank Central Library Aud. 6:30pm–9 pm
Ja 12: Concrete Strategies for a Green Business Part 2 Burbank Green Alliance @ Burbank Community Service Building. 6:30pm–9pm
Ja 17: Sustainable Task Force. 4:30pm
Ja 19: Embracing Cradle-to-Cradle Product Stewardship & Waste Free Part 3 Burbank Green Alliance @ Burbank Community Service Building. 6:30pm–9pm

Local
Ja 12: UCLA: Energy-Climate Policy-Obama Admin. What happened? And what’s next? 12pm–1pm
Ja 19: UCLA: Environ. Priorities-Time of Fiscal Limitations-LA City Controller W Greuel. 12pm–1:30pm
Ja 26: UCLA: CA Landscape Conservation Cooperative Workshop. 1:30 pm–4:30 pm
Ja 26: UCLA: Reflections of a Green Business Pioneer-Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia. 6pm–8:30pm

National
Ja 25+: Solar Power USA, Las Vegas
Ja 31+: EUEC–Energy & Environment Conference, Phoenix

COB: Recycle Your Holiday Tree

Recycle Your Holiday Tree

The Burbank Recycle Center will help you to recycle your holiday tree.

REMOVE: All tinsel, ornaments, metal stands, and plastic buckets ~ Because trees are mulched or composted. Flocked trees are not recycled !

Recycle Trees 3 Ways !

1) Dec 27 – Jan 14: drop off your holiday tree @ 2 Parks
(a) Brace Canyon Park, at 2850 Haven Way, in the parking lot off Haven Way
(b) Verdugo Park, 3201 W. Verdugo, near corner of California St & Verdugo Ave

2) Jan 3 – Jan 14: at the curb or in an alley
~ Burbank Sanitation will collect trees placed at curb or in an alley

3) Cut Up/Put In green waste containers with other yard trimmings

For more information, call Burbank Recycle Center: 818-238-3800

Business Watch: Taxi Fleets

Burbank taxi fleet full of hybrids
Compressed natural gas vehicles are also gaining strength in numbers.
Burbank Leader: December 1, 2010 by Bill Kisliuk

The taxi fleet in Burbank is getting greener, and soon those greener pastures will make their way to Glendale.

The City Cab lot near Bob Hope Airport sports roughly 110 taxi cabs and minivans. Forty-six of those vehicles, or 42%, are now either gas-electric hybrids or Ford Crown Victorias that run on compressed natural gas.

Martin Shatakhyan, general manager of the City Cab fleet, said the company plans to have 75% of the fleet converted within four years.

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Burbank does not mandate conversion of the taxi fleet, but the Burbank City Council and Traffic Commission have established a policy encouraging taxicab companies to be as green as possible, according to License and Code Services Administrator Terre Hirsch.

"The proposals that are being most favored include a substantial amount of green cabs," Hirsch said. "Currently, there are 130 taxis in the city, and approximately 50% of those are green." READ MORE !

BWP: eMeter - Meter Data Management System

Burbank Water and Power Deploys Smart Grid Leveraging Siemens' Expertise and eMeter's Technology
PR Newswire: December 1, 2010

Siemens Energy, Inc. announces that Burbank Water and Power (BWP), the provider of water and electricity to Burbank, California, residents and businesses, has completed its installation of the eMeter EnergyIP meter data management system (MDMS).

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The first phase of this project was a true meter-to-cash project. The meter reads are validated, estimated and edited within the MDMS before being converted into billing determinants.

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"Siemens and eMeter's commitment toward working hand-in-hand with the BWP delivery team was instrumental to the success of this project," said Joanne Fletcher, BWP Assistant General Manager/Customer Service & Marketing. "The MDMS is a key piece in the foundation of our Smart Grid strategy and we look forward to realizing the benefits of this deployment as Smart Grid technologies evolve and we are able to offer our customers more choices and more control over how they use their resources."

"eMeter worked closely with Siemens to ensure a successful and timely deployment for BWP," said Gary Bloom, CEO at eMeter. "eMeter EnergyIP will ultimately empower Burbank residents to make smart energy consumption decisions."

Siemens is now working with BWP on the next phase of their MDM project, which will include the ability to respond to service requests, inquiries and interruptions more quickly than current technology allows. READ MORE !

Green Day Planner: December 2010

Burbank Library Green Events: December 2010

Calendar of Green Events in Burbank and Greater LA. Check out State and National events on the Green Day Planner.

Burbank & Southern California
Dec 9+: LA: Pacific Green Conference & Expo
Dec 20: Burbank Sustainable Task Force

National
Dec 2+: Biomass Renewable Energy – Miami
Dec 7+: EcoBuild America – Wash DC
Dec 8+: World Energy Engineering Congress – Wash DC

Upcoming Events: January, 2010
Team Business Burbank Lecture Series:
Building a World-Class Green Business

Jan 5: Greening Your Restaurant/Food Service
Jan 12: Concrete Strategies for a Green Business
Jan 19: Embracing Cradle-to-Cradle Concepts

Time: Wednesdays, 6:30-9:00pm
Location: Community Services Building 150 N. Third Street
*January 5th class will be held at Burbank Central Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd

REGISTRATION:
Register online at Team Business burbank
or call (818) 238-5198
**Participants must register for each course separately.

$10 Burbank Residents
$15 Non-Burbank Residents
Free to Burbank Chamber of Commerce Members