October 4, 2010

President and Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz moderated an interactive session Development of Dynamic Public-Private Partnerships on Sustainable Energy and Water Management September 23 at the 2010 USCM Fall Leadership Meeting in Washington (DC). The session was sponsored by General Electric, the first-ever Title Sponsor for a Conference of Mayors Fall Leadership Meeting.

The session highlighted innovative programs in two cities that leverage the reach and capabilities of public private partnerships to address energy and waste water management needs while achieving local economic development goals.

Panelists Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and General Electric Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Beth Comstock highlighted key public private partnership initiatives to demonstrate how, as cities face the challenges of shrinking budgets and scarcer resources, mayors are engaging the private sector for approaches to addressing their city's sustainability needs.

Commenting on the importance of public private partnerships, Comstock remarked, “Cities are facing increasingly complex challenges in the areas of energy and health which no single company or government entity can face alone. Through public-private partnerships, city leaders can challenge themselves to think big and be innovative in these key areas.”

She went on to say, “As a company, GE has made a commitment to clean energy and accessible healthcare through ecomagination and healthy imagination, which drive our partnerships with cities as global thought leaders on sustainability.”

Stating, “We have to do something innovative to be competitive,” Dyer highlighted his focus on public-private partnerships as an approach and briefed the mayors on a recent MOU between Orlando and GE to collaborate on key initiatives including the following:

• Treasure Hunts to reduce emissions and carbon footprint to save dollars;

• EV Charging Stations; Residential Retrofits;

• Commercial Retrofits; a Commercial Retrofits Financing Program where in the Central Florida Energy Efficiency Alliance applied for a $7 million grant to create a commercial retro fit program with GE;

• and Sustainability Planning, which includes a commitment to develop a ten-year Climate Action Plan with technical guidance from GE.

Following Dyer's comments, Adams discussed the MOU signed by GE and Portland to collaborate on initiatives centering on sustainability. Emphasizing the need to be innovative when identifying solutions to the challenges cities face, Adams stated, “We have to be scrappy in our efforts to compete in the new economy.”

Among the initiatives highlighted by Adams and included in the MOU are Clean Energy Works, a 2011 initiative for which a $20million DOE ARRA grant was secured for this residential retrofit program taking place across Oregon; and the Oregon Sustainability Center (in schematic phase).

Also provided for in the MOU are Ecodistricts (in planning process), which anticipate five-plus energy and water systems with distributed energy and microgrid in distinct neighborhoods that will utilize a mix of public planning and private company development to incorporate solutions. Local Economic Development with GE working with local businesses to identify counter trade, licensing, and other international opportunities are also included in the MOU.

After a lively discussion, the session closed with Kautz emphasizing the importance of public private sector partnerships with universities and the business community to identify innovative solutions to the challenges cites face.