Request For Information
South Los Angeles Affordable Housing Decarbonization Pilot
LOS ANGELES CLEANTECH INCUBATOR
INFORMATION DUE BY: Thursday, March 7, 2024
Key Dates and Contact Information
Key Project Dates:
RFI Release – January 22, 2024, 4:00pm PST
RFI Response Submission Deadline – Thursday, March 7, 2024, 5:00 PM PST.
We encourage early submissions.
Contact Information:
Please direct inquiries regarding this RFI to all contacts listed below.
Mayte Sanchez, Senior Energy Director, mayte@laci.org
Kylie Teller, Energy Program Manager, kylie@laci.org
Introduction
LACI is requesting information from engineering companies, software companies, building contractors, community development corporations, technology providers for energy management systems, heat pump air conditioners (AC), innovative battery storage systems such as a lithium-iron phosphate battery, solar and any other technology that would enable greater affordability at an affordable housing building complex. We would like to know more about your organization, products and related services that pertain to our affordable housing decarbonization project. The same information will be gathered from various organizations and will be used to develop internal knowledge banks on how a variety of technologies may be installed or deployed in a manner that brings maximum benefits to community members with the ultimate goal of affordability and decarbonization. This information may be utilized in the formulation of future projects for end product procurement using either Request for Proposal (RFP) or other acceptable means. No contract will be awarded as a result of this RFI.
LACI Background
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)’s mission is to create an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation, transforming markets, and enhancing community. LACI aims to build a regional innovation ecosystem that supports the discovery and commercialization of clean technologies by creating new companies, de-risking the cleantech commercialization process, and helping companies successfully deliver market-ready cleantech solutions along with accompanying jobs. Founded by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP) in 2011, LACI is a nonprofit organization focused on clean energy, zero emission transportation, and sustainable cities. LACI was formed as an economic development initiative to transform a traditional blue-collar industrial area into a thriving cleantech corridor. The organization utilizes a unique and integrated approach to spur the green economy to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, create jobs, and generate local economic impact. LACI serves entrepreneurs, students, and job seekers around the world, but primarily in the greater Los Angeles region throughout LA County, with a focus on sustainable solutions for underserved communities.
Project Overview
LACI and the public-private Clean Energy Partnership
LACI launched a public-private Clean Energy Partnership in October 2022 together with state regulators, local governments, utilities, and private sector leaders and published its Clean Energy 2028 Roadmap in October 2023. Through the Roadmap, the Partnership is advancing the transition to a 100% zero-carbon grid by equitably advancing building electrification, distributed generation, and grid resiliency ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To support the Partnership’s goal of accelerating building electrification, LACI is seeking to deploy innovative building decarbonization technology solutions at an affordable housing building, while maintaining affordability through a “Community Benefit Pilot.”
For Clean Energy Community Benefit Pilots, LACI seeks to:
work with community partners and technology providers with the aim of meeting the clean energy needs identified by individual communities,
achieve measurable greenhouse gas (GHG) & air quality improvements,
ensure energy affordability,
scale startup innovation and innovative technology and business models,
ensure technology demonstrated has proven commercial validity to maximize benefit for the community and derisk the pilot, and
learn lessons for what technology and business model solutions to scale with policy to scale these technology solutions to more communities across the region, state, and potentially nation.
Building Decarbonization & Affordability for South Los Angeles
LACI is seeking to deploy this building decarbonization pilot in South LA in partnership with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation at an affordable housing complex. For background, in LA, low-income renters and communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution, climate impacts and extreme heat. A 2019 study by the University of Southern California demonstrates 73% of renters in South LA are housing burdened and 21% are energy burdened. According to CalEnviroScreen 4.0, South LA is among the top 25% most polluted communities in California, due to the presence of four freeways, urban oil drilling, and industrial sources of pollution, resulting in high rates of asthma, lung disease, and other respiratory illnesses.
For this Pilot, LACI is partnering with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation to deploy clean technology solutions at one of their complexes, which has 23 units in two conjoined buildings. Esperanza Community Housing is a social justice non-profit in South Central Los Angeles that achieves long-term, comprehensive community development. The Pilot will provide heat pump AC units and clean energy solutions to help improve the quality of life for its residents in South Los Angeles, while decarbonizing the building and maintaining energy affordability.
Pilot Project Goals
The goal for this pilot project is to enhance grid reliability, while enhancing the quality of life and maintaining affordability for residents in affordable housing units. This project will seek to provide demand response enabled heat pump AC along with an innovative energy storage solution or other clean technology solutions that efficiently manage energy load to enable affordability at an affordable housing complex.
The goals of this project include:
Increase affordable, clean energy access for low-income renters.
Provide educational opportunities for residents to learn more about clean energy technologies, energy usage, and ways to reduce electric bills.
Support local grid reliability through demand response/time of use program or devices.
Improve quality of life for residents with clean energy technologies as more frequent extreme heat waves occur.
Support the electrification of multifamily buildings while increasing or maintaining affordability for residents.
Identify process, technology, and/or policy recommendations to make it easier for other multifamily affordable housing units--including those that are classified as historic properties--to install a suite of clean energy solutions that improve energy affordability.
To reach these goals, LACI is now accepting expressions of interest in response to this Request for Information.
Scope of Work
The proposed building was originally built in the early 1920’s as two separate single-room occupancy apartment buildings, and fully rehabbed and reconfigured by Esperanza Community Housing in the early 2000's. This complex has 23 units in two conjoined buildings with a roof ready for solar installation; some units have window AC units; and all residents have wall heaters. The apartment’s common space of the building had a total electric bill of $4,185.96 and a total gas bill of $8,104.87 for the months of January through September 2023.
Another dimension to this project is that this building is sited in a Local Historic District where there are some limitations to how the look of the building can be altered under Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) rules. This HPOZ designation must be considered when designing an installation plan. Plans will ultimately need to be approved by an HPOZ committee.
LACI is looking for clean energy innovations from startups and corporates that can be installed in the building to achieve the above goals and priorities. For example, these solutions can include but not be limited to:
heat pump AC;
energy management systems;
battery storage solutions; and
Distributed energy resources and other innovations that can be integrated to optimize efficiency and demand response.
It would also be beneficial to identify additional technologies that can produce synergistic benefits to the operations and efficiency of the building. Beyond learning about the possibilities of individual technologies, we are also seeking to learn more about how installation contractors and engineering/design companies propose to weave these technologies together to create an integrated suite of clean energy solutions for residents. Ultimately, we are seeking to support replicating this effort at other affordable housing and multi-family buildings.
Who should respond to this RFI?
We welcome responses from qualified applicants such as technology providers, building contractors, community development corporations, or engineering companies with the goal of informing ways to decarbonize affordable housing complexes and maintain or improve energy affordability.
Submission Requirements
LACI requests comments and information on the following areas of interest:
Organization Name
Type of Organization
Business Description
Organization Address
Registration/Incorporation
State of Formation
Do you currently have a Los Angeles business license?
Representative First Name
Representative Last Name
Title
Email Address
Phone
Website
What is your proposed technology solution(s) to support affordable building decarbonization?
Commercialization Stage
How can your technology solution or approach ensure energy affordability?
How can your technology solution be integrated or compatible with other identified key technologies mentioned in the RFI?
Have you delivered similar solutions for past projects? If so, please provide a short description of the project and key learnings and outcomes.
Have you had any experience working with buildings in Local Historic Districts in Los Angeles or with multi-family buildings?
What is your cost range to enable the proposal you have submitted?
Submission Instructions
All respondents must provide information related to the topics and questions outlined in the “Submission Requirements” section above.
There is no maximum response length; however, respondents are requested only to submit information directly pertinent to their response and are discouraged from supplying excess marketing materials or resumes that are not critical to their response.
Responses must be submitted through the SMApply portal. Only electronic submissions received through the portal detailed below will be accepted.
If there are challenges or issues relating to the submission of the RFI responses, they can be directed to Mayte Sanchez at mayte@laci.org.
Contact Information
All inquiries related to this project must be directed in writing by email to:
Mayte Sanchez, Senior Energy Director, mayte@laci.org
- Kylie Teller, Energy Program Manager, kylie@laci.org
Request for Information (RFI): South LA Affordable Housing Decarbonization Pilot
Request For Information
South Los Angeles Affordable Housing Decarbonization Pilot
LOS ANGELES CLEANTECH INCUBATOR
INFORMATION DUE BY: Thursday, March 7, 2024
Key Dates and Contact Information
Key Project Dates:
RFI Release – January 22, 2024, 4:00pm PST
RFI Response Submission Deadline – Thursday, March 7, 2024, 5:00 PM PST.
We encourage early submissions.
Contact Information:
Please direct inquiries regarding this RFI to all contacts listed below.
Mayte Sanchez, Senior Energy Director, mayte@laci.org
Kylie Teller, Energy Program Manager, kylie@laci.org
Introduction
LACI is requesting information from engineering companies, software companies, building contractors, community development corporations, technology providers for energy management systems, heat pump air conditioners (AC), innovative battery storage systems such as a lithium-iron phosphate battery, solar and any other technology that would enable greater affordability at an affordable housing building complex. We would like to know more about your organization, products and related services that pertain to our affordable housing decarbonization project. The same information will be gathered from various organizations and will be used to develop internal knowledge banks on how a variety of technologies may be installed or deployed in a manner that brings maximum benefits to community members with the ultimate goal of affordability and decarbonization. This information may be utilized in the formulation of future projects for end product procurement using either Request for Proposal (RFP) or other acceptable means. No contract will be awarded as a result of this RFI.
LACI Background
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)’s mission is to create an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation, transforming markets, and enhancing community. LACI aims to build a regional innovation ecosystem that supports the discovery and commercialization of clean technologies by creating new companies, de-risking the cleantech commercialization process, and helping companies successfully deliver market-ready cleantech solutions along with accompanying jobs. Founded by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP) in 2011, LACI is a nonprofit organization focused on clean energy, zero emission transportation, and sustainable cities. LACI was formed as an economic development initiative to transform a traditional blue-collar industrial area into a thriving cleantech corridor. The organization utilizes a unique and integrated approach to spur the green economy to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, create jobs, and generate local economic impact. LACI serves entrepreneurs, students, and job seekers around the world, but primarily in the greater Los Angeles region throughout LA County, with a focus on sustainable solutions for underserved communities.
Project Overview
LACI and the public-private Clean Energy Partnership
LACI launched a public-private Clean Energy Partnership in October 2022 together with state regulators, local governments, utilities, and private sector leaders and published its Clean Energy 2028 Roadmap in October 2023. Through the Roadmap, the Partnership is advancing the transition to a 100% zero-carbon grid by equitably advancing building electrification, distributed generation, and grid resiliency ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To support the Partnership’s goal of accelerating building electrification, LACI is seeking to deploy innovative building decarbonization technology solutions at an affordable housing building, while maintaining affordability through a “Community Benefit Pilot.”
For Clean Energy Community Benefit Pilots, LACI seeks to:
work with community partners and technology providers with the aim of meeting the clean energy needs identified by individual communities,
achieve measurable greenhouse gas (GHG) & air quality improvements,
ensure energy affordability,
scale startup innovation and innovative technology and business models,
ensure technology demonstrated has proven commercial validity to maximize benefit for the community and derisk the pilot, and
learn lessons for what technology and business model solutions to scale with policy to scale these technology solutions to more communities across the region, state, and potentially nation.
Building Decarbonization & Affordability for South Los Angeles
LACI is seeking to deploy this building decarbonization pilot in South LA in partnership with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation at an affordable housing complex. For background, in LA, low-income renters and communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental pollution, climate impacts and extreme heat. A 2019 study by the University of Southern California demonstrates 73% of renters in South LA are housing burdened and 21% are energy burdened. According to CalEnviroScreen 4.0, South LA is among the top 25% most polluted communities in California, due to the presence of four freeways, urban oil drilling, and industrial sources of pollution, resulting in high rates of asthma, lung disease, and other respiratory illnesses.
For this Pilot, LACI is partnering with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation to deploy clean technology solutions at one of their complexes, which has 23 units in two conjoined buildings. Esperanza Community Housing is a social justice non-profit in South Central Los Angeles that achieves long-term, comprehensive community development. The Pilot will provide heat pump AC units and clean energy solutions to help improve the quality of life for its residents in South Los Angeles, while decarbonizing the building and maintaining energy affordability.
Pilot Project Goals
The goal for this pilot project is to enhance grid reliability, while enhancing the quality of life and maintaining affordability for residents in affordable housing units. This project will seek to provide demand response enabled heat pump AC along with an innovative energy storage solution or other clean technology solutions that efficiently manage energy load to enable affordability at an affordable housing complex.
The goals of this project include:
Increase affordable, clean energy access for low-income renters.
Provide educational opportunities for residents to learn more about clean energy technologies, energy usage, and ways to reduce electric bills.
Support local grid reliability through demand response/time of use program or devices.
Improve quality of life for residents with clean energy technologies as more frequent extreme heat waves occur.
Support the electrification of multifamily buildings while increasing or maintaining affordability for residents.
Identify process, technology, and/or policy recommendations to make it easier for other multifamily affordable housing units--including those that are classified as historic properties--to install a suite of clean energy solutions that improve energy affordability.
To reach these goals, LACI is now accepting expressions of interest in response to this Request for Information.
Scope of Work
The proposed building was originally built in the early 1920’s as two separate single-room occupancy apartment buildings, and fully rehabbed and reconfigured by Esperanza Community Housing in the early 2000's. This complex has 23 units in two conjoined buildings with a roof ready for solar installation; some units have window AC units; and all residents have wall heaters. The apartment’s common space of the building had a total electric bill of $4,185.96 and a total gas bill of $8,104.87 for the months of January through September 2023.
Another dimension to this project is that this building is sited in a Local Historic District where there are some limitations to how the look of the building can be altered under Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) rules. This HPOZ designation must be considered when designing an installation plan. Plans will ultimately need to be approved by an HPOZ committee.
LACI is looking for clean energy innovations from startups and corporates that can be installed in the building to achieve the above goals and priorities. For example, these solutions can include but not be limited to:
heat pump AC;
energy management systems;
battery storage solutions; and
Distributed energy resources and other innovations that can be integrated to optimize efficiency and demand response.
It would also be beneficial to identify additional technologies that can produce synergistic benefits to the operations and efficiency of the building. Beyond learning about the possibilities of individual technologies, we are also seeking to learn more about how installation contractors and engineering/design companies propose to weave these technologies together to create an integrated suite of clean energy solutions for residents. Ultimately, we are seeking to support replicating this effort at other affordable housing and multi-family buildings.
Who should respond to this RFI?
We welcome responses from qualified applicants such as technology providers, building contractors, community development corporations, or engineering companies with the goal of informing ways to decarbonize affordable housing complexes and maintain or improve energy affordability.
Submission Requirements
LACI requests comments and information on the following areas of interest:
Organization Name
Type of Organization
Business Description
Organization Address
Registration/Incorporation
State of Formation
Do you currently have a Los Angeles business license?
Representative First Name
Representative Last Name
Title
Email Address
Phone
Website
What is your proposed technology solution(s) to support affordable building decarbonization?
Commercialization Stage
How can your technology solution or approach ensure energy affordability?
How can your technology solution be integrated or compatible with other identified key technologies mentioned in the RFI?
Have you delivered similar solutions for past projects? If so, please provide a short description of the project and key learnings and outcomes.
Have you had any experience working with buildings in Local Historic Districts in Los Angeles or with multi-family buildings?
What is your cost range to enable the proposal you have submitted?
Submission Instructions
All respondents must provide information related to the topics and questions outlined in the “Submission Requirements” section above.
There is no maximum response length; however, respondents are requested only to submit information directly pertinent to their response and are discouraged from supplying excess marketing materials or resumes that are not critical to their response.
Responses must be submitted through the SMApply portal. Only electronic submissions received through the portal detailed below will be accepted.
If there are challenges or issues relating to the submission of the RFI responses, they can be directed to Mayte Sanchez at mayte@laci.org.
Contact Information
All inquiries related to this project must be directed in writing by email to:
Mayte Sanchez, Senior Energy Director, mayte@laci.org
- Kylie Teller, Energy Program Manager, kylie@laci.org