Synapse: This Week's News for LA’s Best Buildings
Jeff Bezos Says He's Giving $10 Billion To Fight Climate Change
The Amazon CEO and richest man in the world announced in a post on Instagram that he'd start the Bezos Earth Fund. He said he expects to start giving out grants this summer. With an estimated net worth of nearly $130 billion, his pledge accounts for about 7.7% of his wealth.
"Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet," Bezos said. "I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share."
US Utility Scorecard Reveals a Dramatic Increase in Energy Savings
ACEEE has released the 2020 Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which assesses the 52 largest US electric utilities across a range of energy efficiency metrics. LADWP is one of the most-improved, relative to 2017 - they increased savings more than 50% since 2015 and delivered significant savings for low-income customers.
Further Reading: Leading States Have Designed New Ways to Help Utilities Fight Climate Change
To control costs and fight climate change, US states are coming up with innovative ways to flexibly manage demand for energy use. New research from ACEEE and Energy Innovation finds that at least 13 states have created performance incentive mechanisms (PIM) to encourage utilities to deliver energy savings at specific times to optimize the nation’s power grid. This approach reduces emissions and allows utilities to incorporate more renewable power into the grid.
