California Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown (left) joined moderator, Scott Lyle (right),

Lauralee Martin and others at the Los Angeles Business Council to discuss innovation
and conservation. (Photo by Madeline Reddington)

For an annual price of about $23 million, a solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) program could be created to increase clean energy usage in Los Angeles without raising electric rates, according to a study released Monday by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) in conjunction with the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.

As the L.A. City Council continues to debate the rate hikes, this study was a topic of discussion at LABC's annual sustainability summit Tuesday morning.

According to the study, a Feed-in Tariff program allows businesses and individuals to install solar panels on their property. They can then sell the power generated by the panels back to DWP, as it is incorporated into the power grid.

J.R. DeShazo, a UCLA Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Luskin Center, said the city is lagging behind on its clean energy goals, and a real political commitment to creative solutions like FiT is needed.

"We have probably among the most ambitious renewable energy goals in the country," DeShazo said. "We're supposed to be at 20 percent renewable energy by 2010, and we're currently at 14 percent. A Feed-In Tariff could harness the most cost-effective power in Los Angeles if it's properly designed."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also showed his support for the FiT program, calling it an opportunity for L.A., a city known as "the quintessential city of sprawl, the car capital of the world" to move in another direction.

"According to the DOE and our formulas, UC Berkeley as well, we can create 18 thousand jobs here in the county in a 10-year period of time with a Feed-in Tariff program for solar," he said.

Also present at the summit was gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, who commented on the current efforts to produce sustainability based on his years of experience in government.

Brown said he believes businesses will be the leaders in making programs like FiT work to make Los Angeles and California greener.

"Where the bottom line dictates it, you can move forward," Brown said. "But when you get into the government, you get the pulling and hauling and it does become difficult."

Brown said that when he was governor, he created standards for building and conservation, but then the Reagan Administration "pre-empted" them with a "zero-standard standard."

"And so we push forward, and they throw it all out, but then it comes back, and government is like that," he said. "You go down the road, then you back off, and then you go again. But we're still doing the same stuff. Efficiency, alternative fuels, focusing on the urban areas."

Brown was nowhere to be found after the event, and we were unable to ask him questions in our effort to get his opinion on the state of California's education system.