accelerating resource and environmental sustainability through collaboration and alignment
An icon of millenial ingenuity, the Falkirk Wheel, the world's first rotating boat lift, now achieves a 115 ft. change in elevation in a scant 4 minutes and 1.5 kilowatt hours - a tiny fraction of the one full day, 3500 metric tons of water, and considerable power originally needed to traverse 11 locks across Scotland. [photo courtesy of Sean McLean]
Houweling Nurseries in Camarillo, CA captures rainwater for irrigation, saving both water and energy for its local water utility.
[photo courtesy of Jonathan Bower]
Inland Empire Utilities Agency's Headquarters complex in Chino, CA, the first LEED Platinum public facility in the U.S., demonstrates how recycled building materials and energy and water efficient design create a better environment, save water, improve staff productivity, and contribute to the restoration of native landscapes. [photo courtesy of IEUA]
Houweling Nurseries in Camarillo, CA is the first greenhouse in the U.S. to purify CO2 from cogeneration exhaust to fertilize its tomatoes, substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions from both electricity production and reduced need to transport tanks of CO2.
[photo courtesy of Jonathan Bower]
Converting dairy waste into bio-methane produces valuable renewable energy while concurrently solving a waste disposal and odor problem, improving groundwater quality, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. [photo by Ulrich Mueller]
Hybrid gas and electric pumps enable choosing the lowest cost and most reliable source of power at any point in time (known as "economic dispatch") while also helping to support electric reliability when electric supplies are low.
[photo courtesy of Southern California Gas Co.]
Still a largely untapped resource, recycled water is an essential component of a responsible water supply portfolio and a long-term resilient water future.
[photo courtesy of Laurie Park]
Many stakeholder groups – cities and counties, water and wastewater agencies, electric and gas utilities, commercial property owners and managers, elected officials, policymakers, regulators, industry associations, community and business leaders, non-governmental organizations – have important roles in putting the U.S. on a path to long-term sustainability. There are as many sustainability initiatives as there are stakeholder groups.
Syzergy, a 501c3 tax exempt corporation, brings the best of these initiatives into a comprehensive service offering to substantially accelerate and increase resource efficient and environmental sustainability. Syzergy achieves its 501c3 purpose through a diverse portfolio of educational programs and activities.
Through extensive partnering with a wide variety of public and private organizations that have complementary initiatives, resources and assets, Syzergy is helping to identify and overcome barriers to long-term resource and environmental resiliency.
The Blue Hotline
Be a part of our local water-conservation campaign, The Billion Gallon Challenge! Our mission is to help engage and educate communities on saving water, which leads to saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more here.
Donate to the campaign!
Syzergy Advisor, Frances Spivy-Weber
Interviews Glenda Humiston
On Innovative Financing Strategies
Glenda Humiston, Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
Sacramento, CA – Glenda Humiston, Ph.D., has four key recommendations for improving California investments. Humiston, Vice President of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of California, discussed these financing strategies in an interview conducted for Water Energy Innovations by Frances Spivy-Weber, former Vice Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board.
“We need to recognize that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges facing our State’s water issues,” says Humiston. The future vision consists of: building regional urban-rural collaborations; engaging the general public and policy leaders; increasing food and agricultural research; and encouraging STEM subjects in schools and universities.
Additionally, Humiston outlines strategies for innovative financing to help get projects funded. These strategies include encouraging regional investing and use of the Access to Capital Guidebook developed by eighty leaders from finance, economic development, small business, corporations and government sectors.
“Regional investing is literally the holy grail. How do we bring some of our own money back home to invest in California?” asks Humiston. If only 5% of retirement account funds from California residents in 2011 had been invested locally, $43 billion would have been available to support in-State projects.
Spivy-Weber interviewed Humiston as part of the Water Energy Innovations project, “Accelerating Drought Resilience Through Innovative Technologies.”
The interview can be viewed here.
The project website can be viewed here.
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