The MVCC Green Committee invites you to the Wise Power Use Expo

Councilman Bill Rosendahl and the MVCC Green Committee invite you to join us at the Wise Power Use Expo on November 3^rd, 6:30 PM at the Windward School.

Learn easy ways to save electricity and money in your own home!

Chris Paine, director of "Revenge of the Electric Car" (Spring, 2011) and co-founder the media project "Counter-Spill", will share how he transformed an original Mid 20th Century Modern home into Marrakesh House - a model for sustainable living in the 21st century.

Kevin O’Donnell (thread collaborative) will present a module from The Climate Project that speaks to why we need to worry about getting off coal and convert to renewable energy. See his presentation here.

Nancy Barba (Sustainable Works, BKi) will offer us a blueprint on the part we can play individually to get our community off coal. She will speak to the easy changes we can make in our homes and business to reduce our electricity consumption and walk us through the numbers on roof top solar – the cost and the expected pay back.

André Villaseñor (Southern California Sustainability Coordinator in the EPA  L.A. Field Office) will tell us what it means for Mar Vista to become an EPA Green Power Community. See his presentation here.

Electricity rates have already gone up and we know that they will go up further in the months ahead. Guest speakers will help us learn how to lower our electrical use and what our options are for renewable energy.

LOCAL resources will provide information on energy saving solutions with special discounts and FREE exciting energy conservation raffle items.Table presenters will present solutions to conserve electricity or convert to renewable energy – and all will offer significant discounts to the community and donate incredible raffle items like whole house energy audits. We will all learn why this is an important issue and what we can do to help - and access solutions on the spot!

We are holding it in the gymnasium at the Windward School at 11350 Palms Avenue in Mar Vista. Windward is one of the first schools in California to receive a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Schools verification. 

Table presentations will open at 6:30 pm and speakers will be at 7:30. 

Chris Paine

Chris Paine's award winning documentary feature film Who Killed the Electric Car? premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 before its worldwide release by Sony Pictures Classics. Nearly 5,000 pure electric cars were collected and destroyed by GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and many others despite the efforts of activists to save them. Three years in the making, the film's murder mystery spin on an almost unreported story captured public attention and stimulated substantive change in the industry.

Five years later, electric cars are back… with a vengeance. Revenge of the Electric Car  (Spring 2011) is the new documentary from director Chris Paine — who took his film crew around the world to chronicle the resurgence of electric cars. From backyard mechanics converting Porsches to electrics, to the multi-million dollar Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors, to deep behind closed doors at two of the world’s biggest car makers; Revenge of the Electric Car tells the electrifying story of the race to bring EVs back from the dead — just as the perils of the oil age are the deepest they’ve ever been.

Chris will share the journey that became Marrakesh House - an original Mid 20th Century Modern home that he purchased in 2007 and transformed  into a model for sustainable living in the 21st century. Marrakesh House is a private residence that doubles as venue for art, music and culture in the surrounding community. Paine rarely wavered in his commitment to remodel the 4,300 square-foot house using environmentally friendly guidelines. 

He will be joined by project manager, noted LEED AP, Shellie Collier of Homagedesign. Their team succeeded in making most changes to the house in accordance with the motto ‘reduce/reuse/recycle’. According to Collier, this motto means “using as much existing material as possible in order to significantly lower the carbon footprint during the remodeling process.” Paine ensured that measures were taken to harness the renewable, sustainable energy of the bright Southern California sun by installing roof panels to generate solar power for both plug-in electric vehicles and the residence itself.

Kevin Foster O’Donnell

Kevin Foster O’Donnell educates from local, regional, and national platforms, including UCLA Extension and FMI, AIA, ASID, IRDC, and NeoCon events. Through The Climate Project (TCP), Kevin trained with Al Gore to present An Inconvenient Truth, the basis of book and movie. Kevin custom-tailored the show with current technologies and strategies that can lead to a more stable global climate, which was later adopted as TCP’s official Built Environment Module.

Kevin has worked in the retail industry for more than twenty years, championing cutting edge design, carefully integrated architecture and store décor, creative brand development, insightful business strategy, inventive conceptual approaches and innovative use of materials and production methods via key projects for Tesco’s Fresh & Easy, Whole Foods Market, The Kroger Co., and Wegmans. 

Kevin runs the design and consulting studio thread collaborative. The thread team researches, develops, designs, and writes about innovative strategies to achieve sustainable building development.

Nancy Barba

Nancy Barba, a Los Angeles native, is committed to a sustainable future. Nancy began her career by volunteering her time at environmental nonprofits while simultaneously working on her BS in Business Administration at Cal State Long Beach. There she explored environmental issues through classes in renewable energy, sociology and the environment. She is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accredited professional and has taught environment classes at the Pathways program at UCLA Extension. Nancy currently works for Bevilacqua-Knight, Inc. (BKi), an energy efficiency consulting firm whose Los Angeles office will be managing the Energy Upgrade California Program in the Los Angeles County. Previously Nancy was the Director of the Residential Greening Program. In that capacity she was responsible for the marketing, curriculum, and development of the Green Living Workshop. Under her direction the program grew to serve the Los Angeles community with the largest workshop participation in the program's history. She lives in Venice where she grows her own tomatoes and feeds the composting worms weekly.

André Villaseñor

André Villaseñor has 15 years of experience as an environmental professional both abroad and in the U.S.  He lived and worked in Chile for three years where he coordinated environmental impact studies for airport expansions and mining projects.  He served as a U.S. Peace Corps Habitat Conservation Specialist in Ecuador where he worked with community members on sustainable small business enterprises and restoration of the Amazon rainforest.  His work in Southern California includes three years at the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority as an environmental compliance specialist.

He has worked at the U.S. EPA since 2005 where he serves as the Southern California Sustainability Coordinator in the L.A. Field Office.  He currently works with local governments on climate action.

He has an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.A. in International Environmental Policy.

In his spare time, Mr. Villaseñor enjoys guerrilla recycling, vegetarian cooking, and exercise.

Pacific Sales/Best Buy - Energy Star Dishwasher!

Pacific Sales/Best Buy has added a Frigidaire Energy Star Dishwasher to the raffle items! It has a stainless steel exterior and is a tall tub design for large capacity -  Model#FFDB2407LS. Wow!! It's not too late to pre-register to get two chances to win this!

Sierra Pacific Raffle Item - $4,600 French Doors!

Sierra Pacific has donated an amazing raffle item - a Patina Green aluminum clad pine French door with a custom radius window above - valued at over $4600!
Stop by their table at the Expo and learn how windows and doors can make a difference in the energy efficiency of your home.