Food Waste = Green Energy

Kroger Co.'s clean-energy production facility in Compton converts food that can't be sold or donated into energy.
Photo: LA Times

Food waste...while I won't dwell on how we tend to waste food within individual households, let's talk about what happens to all the perishable food that doesn't sell in grocery stores.  A subject that has always hit a sore spot with many was profiled with many positives today in an article in the Los Angeles Times, which reported on a large system that turns food that's unable to be sold or donated into organic sludge which in turn converts the methane that's produced into energy.

The facility profiled in the article is located in Kroger's distribution facility in Compton and handles their subsidiaries' food waste (includes Ralph's and Food 4 Less).  What would happen if you had a municipality like Pasadena adopt a facility like this?  Would it be more feasible if you had one large "anaerobic digester system", which is shared among all the grocery stores in Pasadena?  Would there be large opposition, or a NIMBY attitude, to a facility like this even though it emits no odors or pollution?  Can stores and even the city both profit from an operation like this (lower energy costs, transportation cost elimination, etc.) in order to make it truly sustainable?  Can the citizens of Pasadena and others like restaurants, farmers markets and others participate in order to increase capacity and power output and share in the benefits?   I've mentioned before that Pasadena is unique in which we generate our own power and not reliant on inefficient and bureaucratic providers such as Edison and DWP.  Why wouldn't this be an ideal extension of PWP's facilities?

• Brown Food, Green Energy [LA Times]

How To Solve Traffic Jams (including the 210)...Maybe

Congestion Pricing: we all have heard of it, some of us have been paying it if you've recently driven down the former HOV lanes on the 110 south of downtown.  When I saw this TED video I, of course, could not help but think about the rush-hour traffic on the 210-east on a normal weekday.  If any of you have the pleasure of driving this maddening stretch you'll notice the jam tends to start around the Fair Oaks or Lake Ave.  What if Caltrans instituted something similar to the 110 onto the 210, stretching all the way to Rancho Cucamongo or Fontana?  Would you be open to the idea?  Would you pay for that?

Pasadena...Tech Hub??

A Forbes online article yesterday profiled the tech scene in LA.  Yes, Pasadena has Idealab, but we need to do so much more to increase the tech presence here.  With venerable institutions such as JPL and Caltech and a highly educated workforce, along with an established business district we have a rough foundation to establish a "Silicon Foothill" (I know, that sounds horrible, but I'm open for suggestions).  City council needs to do more to initiate programs to make Pasadena more inviting to tech companies.  Aside from a physical beach and the weather, Santa Monica and Pasadena are often compared to each other in terms of livability, amenities, infrastructure, etc.  But there's no reason why they should get all the tech money.

• represent.la - map of the Los Angeles startup community