The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) unanimously approved a districtwide sustainability plan at its Sept. 18 board meeting to ensure its clean energy goals are met by 2045.
The plan is a follow-up to the district’s Green Schools Operations Energy Policy 3510.1, a student-led green energy policy passed in July 2022 to transition LBUSD off of fossil fuels and decrease water and energy consumption.
“We know there was quite a bit of student interest and community interest with respect to our green schools practices. The board adopted a new energy policy, we have our Vision 2035 plan that calls out sustainability, our facility master plan does so as well. So this really kind of brings it all to a head,” said David Miranda, executive director of facilities development and planning.
The district-wide sustainability plan “consolidates existing initiatives and prioritizes options for climate mitigation strategies, bridging the gap between the engineering solutions, organizational culture, and education” according to the district’s report.
The plan was created with input from the Climate and Sustainability Task Force, school leaders, parents, industry experts and the City.
As of December 2023, the district has installed 7,400 kilowatts of solar photovoltaics — solar cells that turn sunlight into electricity — and is acquiring an additional 2,900 kilowatts across 16 more sites, according to the plan report.
Specific Strategies
The plan will implement two types of strategies: one focusing on greenhouse gas reduction and the other on programmatic solutions.
The greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies are divided into three categories based on priority:
- Priority 1 strategies have financial savings which could then be used to fund additional Priority 2 and 3 strategies.
- Priority 2 strategies provide emission reductions without a significant financial incentive. Priority 3 strategies are longer-term conservation goals and look toward capital improvement.
Priority 1 strategies include installing additional solar cells at 56 district sites and replacing LED lighting at 11 sites. Priority 2 strategies include Air Conditioning, kitchen and pool heater electrification and vehicle fleet decarbonization. As part of Priority 3 strategies, the district will be replacing turf grass with artificial turf that may reduce water consumption by as much as 58,600,000 gallons of water per year.
Programmatic strategies represent behavior change efforts to support the previous greenhouse gas reduction strategies. According to the report, they are meant to “build upon them through efforts related to operations, facilities, engagement, and education.” These strategies focus on specific ways to address issues like waste by banning plastic bags and styrofoam food ware and reviewing waste service contracts.
When it comes to sustainability, the district has two advisory bodies to lead community engagements and the implementation of sustainability strategies. These are the Climate and Sustainability Task Force created through board policy 3510.1 and the Green Schools Campaign, a student-led sustainability group whose advocacy work led to the green energy policy.
The plan looks at 2022 as a baseline year, during which the district emitted 25,067 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent — the unit of measurement for greenhouse gas emissions. The plan developed two scenarios forecasting the district’s future greenhouse gas emissions: one looking at a future where the district took no further actions around reducing emissions and one where the district implements the strategies from the plan.
The first scenario, also referred to as the “Business-As-Usual” scenario, predicted changes in emissions despite no intentional effort from the district. This prediction is due to the projected enrollment decline which could lead to a reduction in operations. This scenario projects that emissions will decline to 12,191 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2045, a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the baseline.
The “Business-As-Planned” scenario, however, builds upon the previous scenario and forecasts the additional impact of already planned activities for the upcoming years. Under this scenario, 2045 emissions will be around 9,519 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, a 62% reduction from the baseline and a 16% reduction compared to the previous scenario.
Implementation
According to the Sustainability Plan report, the district has developed and will adopt a five-step implementation framework:
- Hire a district-wide sustainability coordinator.
- Determine quantifiable and qualitative targets to measure strategy success.
- Implement said strategies.
- Identify and prioritize actions based on feasibility, costs, timeline, staff resources and available funding opportunities.
- Monitor and report the implementation process by creating a public dashboard that tracks target progress.
The plan notes that net emissions reductions depend on when the district implements these measures, although the earlier they are implemented the greater the reductions will be. If the district implements all of the strategies, it would achieve a total net reduction through 2045 of 7,713 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The facilities team will continue to provide updates on the implementation of the plan at future board meetings. Read the full plan here.
