Luskin Center Debuts Study to Advance Energy Security at the San Pedro Bay Ports

J.R. DeShazo presented results of the Luskin Center study Moving Towards Resiliency at a port terminal workshop organized by the Aquamarine Institute in partnership with the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles (the Ports). The study provides a foundation to advance energy efficiency and clean energy generation, with the workshop serving as a roadmap for collaboration between the two Ports, their electric utilities and port terminal operators.

“We need to plan for the long-term,” stated Mayor Robert Foster of the City of Long Beach in his keynote remarks as he underscored that the Ports face energy related challenges and opportunities that impact competitiveness, national security, job creation and environmental goals. These issues will be amplified as electricity becomes more expensive and as regulations, environmental health concerns and technological advancements drive further electrification of port equipment and ships at berth.

Authored by Ryan Matulka, J.R. DeShazo and Colleen Callahan of the Luskin Center and commissioned by the Aquamarine Institute, the study is the first of its kind to describe aggregate electricity consumption across hundreds of users and technologies at the Ports. This consumption model then allowed the Luskin Center to create a decision support tool to assess specific energy efficiency and local energy generation options using criteria of:

• Increased port competitiveness, through reduction of operating costs and increased reliability;
• Increased national security, supply chain resiliency and grid independence in the event of an outage;
• Jobs creation through the installation and maintenance of new energy management systems; and
• Improved ability to cost-efficiently comply with environmental mandates and goals.

“We are here to set the standard globally,” said Deputy Mayor Romel Pascual of the City of Los Angeles, referring to the collaboration efforts for energy management planning now emerging.