“What better way to educate the world on sustainability than by transforming that heart of our city government to showcase how we can use water more efficiently, promote food security, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” Newsom wrote in a Huffington Post column announcing the city’s partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.

But four years later, the flashy changes Newsom promised still don’t exist. An artist’s rendering of plans for the Civic Center show a plaza surrounded by waterways with abundant greenery, yet the space in front of City Hall remains as gray as ever.

Behind the scenes, however, the city’s Public Utilities Commission says it is on a slow but steady path to realizing Newsom’s goals. Last year, the commission embarked on a $1.6 million planning project, with $970,000 in federal funding, for a sustainable plan that would “provide environmental benefits by reducing the water, wastewater and power demands.”

The federal funds will go toward retrofitting 675 toilets and sinks in Civic Center buildings so that they use less water, with the rest of the money going toward more sustainability planning.

“We are continuing to move forward with a long-term sustainability plan for the Civic Center,” said PUC Deputy General Manager Michael Carlin in a statement. “Our water conservation projects are a concrete step toward this larger vision.”

Though the agency said the new fixtures are an important move and that the $1.6 million would never fund all of the changes Newsom wanted, one activist is frustrated. Jim Haas, a lawyer who has advocated the Civic Center improvements, said he is disappointed that the city has been dragging its feet on the sustainability project and is settling for more pedestrian goals.

“Mayor Newsom never had in his mind that a good deal of the money would go to retrofitting sinks and toilets,” said Haas, who said he is trying to develop a new plan for the Civic Center with the Recreation and Park department. “It was a much grander, visionary kind of thing.”

In addition to the toilet and sink upgrades that are expected to be completed by the spring, the PUC points to the opening of its “greenest building in the nation” headquarters at 525 Golden Gate Ave., the establishment of a community garden at McAllister and Larkin streets and upgrades and renovations at the United Nations building as evidence that the plaza is evolving.

Last month, Lee announced that eight Civic Center buildings in would apply for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

“San Francisco is pioneering sustainability for the rest of the world by demonstrating how cities can transform historic areas like our own Civic Center into sustainable resource districts through the use of advanced energy efficiency and water conservation technologies,” said Lee at the U.S. Green Building Council Greenbuild International Conference and Expo.

“This investment in the first-of-its-kind Civic Center Sustainability District will create a model for the nation in building greener cities.”

John Updike, the city’s real estate director, said he understands the frustration of advocates who are still waiting for the solar panels and living roofs – fixtures that Newsom said would be “initial projects.” But Updike said he believes the water conservation upgrades are a good use of federal funds and that there are bigger things to come.

“I can understand that from a private citizen perspective, it looks slow,” he said. “But it’s a piece of a larger effort.”

Neal J. Riley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: nriley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @realdealneal

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SF-Civic-Center-sustainability-moves-slow-4158919.php

Ecotality, a San Francisco maker of electric charging stations, filed a lawsuit Friday in the California Court of Appeal, Second District, which hears appeals of decisions by the California Public Utilities Commission and other quasi-judicial agencies. The suit alleges that the PUC made an illegal agreement with NRG Energy Inc. of Princeton, N.J., that gives that company 18 months of exclusive rights to operate charging stations in certain locations.

Plans call for NRG to construct a network of more than 10,000 fast-charging and plug-in charging stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Los Angeles Basin and San Diego.

NRG “can cherry-pick the best real estate and make it hard for the rest of us to compete,” Ecotality Chief Executive Jonathan Read said. NRG “could literally saturate the marketplace,” he said.

NRG’s agreement with the PUC stems from a decade-old lawsuit that California filed against a subsidiary of Houston energy company Dynegy Inc., which allegedly overcharged the state for electricity during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001. NRG later became legally responsible for resolving the complaint after it acquired Dynegy’s share of power plants in 2006.

In a settlement announced March 23, NRG agreed to pay a $20-million penalty to the state and invest an additional $102 million in a network of 10,200 fast-charging and plug-in charging stations.

Gov. Jerry Brown hailed the settlement at a Santa Barbara County event, saying it “will dramatically expand California’s electric vehicle infrastructure, helping to clean our air and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

But Ecotality said the deal would reward a former lawsuit defendant that received “ill-gotten gains” from questionable electricity sales to California as it was being hit with rolling blackouts in 2000. Ecotality’s lawsuit seeks an immediate stay in NRG’s program.

The PUC, NRG and Brown’s office declined to comment on the merits of the lawsuit.

However, an NRG spokesman stressed that the agreement with the PUC does nothing to prevent other electric vehicle charging companies from installing their own stations.

“NRG is making a private investment to build an electric vehicle infrastructure that will encourage electric vehicle adoption across the state to benefit the state of California, the people of California and all the businesses that support the electric vehicle industry,” said David Knox.

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

Article source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nrg-charging-20120526,0,174685.story