Commentary: Next energy-efficiency duty: Cities must become ‘smart’

“Green buildings” are popping up everywhere, California schools are getting more efficient and installers of home solar panels are multiplying.

What’s the next frontier?

Our cities. The new catch phrase in the energy community is “smart city.”

Truly smart cities do more than just dream up expensive transportation programs and create arbitrary carbon footprint goals. Smart cities optimize their trash collection, energy usage, maintenance, vehicles, building inspections and operations through data analysis and intelligent analytics.

They promote innovation and ecosystems for entrepreneurship and clean-tech startups. They make money through their electric vehicle fleets by selling power back to the grid when prices are high and buying power when prices are low.

Smart cities are open and transparent about their infrastructure and who’s using it. They strive for less congestion and fewer cars through nuanced development that considers water and energy use far more conscientiously than a basic environmental impact report does.

In New Jersey, the local utility, Public Service Electric and Gas, has partnered with cities and Petra Systems to equip street lights with tiny solar panels. In some areas, this creates enough power to pay a city’s entire street-lighting bill.

Interestingly, a similar project was finished last year in Bahrain. That’s right, a city in the Middle East, the largest oil-producing region in the world, has figured out how to get rid of a bill because it was the common-sense thing to do.

Closer to home, San Diego’s recently released Climate Action Plan is prompting other cities in the region to develop their own plans. What’s unique about San Diego’s self-imposed plan is that it is binding: The city will cut carbon emissions in half by 2035 or potentially face legal consequences. A legally binding climate-change plan is a huge step toward becoming a smart city.

When I talk about these things in Costa Mesa, I often hear that they’re not the city’s responsibility.

People are inclined to say, “Oh that’s the county’s job” or “I think the state already does that.”

But now that the election is over, and we can definitively stop talking about having a charter, let’s not go back to the status quo. Let’s take the opportunity to encourage our leaders to make Costa Mesa a smarter city.

Costa Mesa resident ANDREA MARR owns Wedge Consulting. She is a recipient of the White House Champion of Change Award for her work as a Navy veteran in the field of clean energy.