In Focus
Super Stars of Energy & Water Savings Recognized at 9th Annual Sustainability Awards
By Emily Rose Oachs
![Goldish color sustainability awards with blue background](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_0.216a968ab077.jpg?)
An electric and expectant hum filled the John Ferraro Building’s lobby-level museum on April 17 as bustling customers, employees, and executives eagerly awaited the start of a most special event. With just five days until Earth Day, the lobby area had been transformed into a festive space with green and bronze displays in celebration of sustainability and a greener L.A. Evelina Tverdohleb, Senior Utility Services Specialist in Key Accounts, stepped through the crowd to position herself at the podium. Voice rising above the chatter, she invited the crowd to their seats and welcomed them to LADWP’s 9th annual Sustainability Awards.
Each year, these awards are presented to LADWP’s largest customers for their substantial achievements in efficiency, conservation, and electrification, as a result of their participation in rebate and incentive programs. This event offers a special opportunity for LADWP to highlight and honor its business customers’ significant environmental contributions, which play an essential role in helping L.A. meet its ambitious sustainability goals. This year, the Customer Service Division's Key Accounts team awarded twenty-two trophies to nineteen customers—who represent commercial, governmental, industrial, and institutional sectors—with some receiving awards in multiple categories.
Total Environmental Impact of All 2024 Winners
- 4,688 tons of carbon emissions avoided annually
- 3.8 million gallons of water conserved annually
- 461 electric vehicle chargers installed
Along with the awards presentation, the event also highlighted related topics and sustainability initiatives that are shaping the Los Angeles region. LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager - Diversity Equity and Inclusion Greg Reed delivered keynote remarks on “The Power of DEI,” while Jason Rondou, LADWP Director of Power System Engineering and newly appointed Chair of the LA28 Games Energy Council, moderated a panel on “Electrifying L.A.’s Public Transportation.” Representatives from L.A. County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA), Metrolink, and the L.A. Department of Transportation (LADOT) joined Rondou to discuss LADWP’s support of local transportation agencies in their electrification efforts and the future of these collaborations.
![Two women and one male sit at chairs during a panel. A green banner is behind them.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_3.20cc33bd8ab7.jpg?)
![Two women and one male sit at chairs during a panel. One of the women speaks into a handheld microphone. A green banner is behind them.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_4.e33dee4769e6.jpg?)
![DEI Director Greg Reed at podium with green banner behind him.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_2.3ac132d12d61.jpg?)
LADWP’s business customers and their environmental efforts ultimately took center stage as they accepted their awards and posed for photos. The audience also included Key Account advisors, members of the program teams that worked closely with honorees, and several LADWP executives and Commissioners, whose strategic initiatives and priorities drive the push toward L.A.’s greener and more sustainable future. The turnout made clear that the event was as much about celebrating the significant achievements of LADWP’s business customers as it was about honoring the deep partnerships the Department and L.A.’s business community have forged to make those achievements possible and mutually beneficial.
For most in attendance, the 2024 Sustainability Awards event started at 9 a.m. on April 17. Yet to say that’s when it began is to sell it short, by a long shot. For Key Accounts’ Sustainability Awards Planning Committee—Raymond Harper, Edneisha Lee, Ashley Rawls, Mike Reilly and Evelina Tverdohleb—the event’s preparations began in January. Among the first orders of business was to gather customer project data from program teams to analyze and determine the winners.
Coordinating an event like this is hardly a linear endeavor, and from that starting point, the committee’s planning took them far and wide. To trace the committee’s touchpoints across the Department and beyond would be to map a spiderweb of connectivity, one that slowly spins outward from the Sustainability Awards Program Committee and weaves through Distributed Energy Solutions, Facilities Services, Reprographics, Corporate Strategy and Communications, and perhaps unexpectedly, the Welding, Carpenter, and Paint Shops, among many others.
"Over the years, this annual event has become an opportunity for customers to share their successes with each other and for LADWP to partner with customers to design innovative programs that meet the customers’ evolving needs. We are excited that these awards have become motivation for some customers to continue to make both new and ongoing investments in sustainable technology within the City of Los Angeles."
Bryan Schweickert, LADWP Director of Key Accounts
The event’s origins date back to 2015, when the seed of an idea germinated for Tverdohleb, driven by three catalysts. The first was L.A.’s adoption of the City of Los Angeles Sustainability Plan, which in 2015 established a series of environmental goals, many of which directly impacted LADWP. The second was the need to improve the existing Sustainability Partnership Program, which was available to the Department’s largest customers and was intended to increase those customers’ participation in energy efficiency and water conservation programs. The third was a challenge presented to Tverdohleb by a customer, who mentioned a customer event hosted by another electric utility and asked whether LADWP had anything similar.
These three swirling considerations gave rise to the idea for the Sustainability Awards—an event intended to recognize the quantifiable sustainability successes of the Department’s largest Key Account customers while simultaneously helping drive LADWP and Los Angeles closer to our shared environmental goals. Tverdohleb drafted and presented a proposal for the program to Department leaders and managers. After receiving the greenlight to move ahead, Tverdohleb and a planning committee of fellow Key Account advisors began to plan the inaugural Sustainability Awards event, to be held in 2016.
That first year, winners were named in four categories: Energy Management, Water Management, Electrification of Transportation and Renewable Power. Over the ensuing years, the categories have shifted and evolved to meet the Department’s needs, with categories added or removed with the creation or dissolution of associated programs.
At this year’s event, awards were given for Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, Electrification of Transportation and Demand Response. Within these categories, Leadership Awards were given to customers with the greatest absolute savings while Impact Awards were presented to customers with the greatest savings relative to annual usage. Only quantifiable metrics are used to determine winners—keeping the selection process transparent and objective.
Next year’s event marks the 10th anniversary of the Sustainability Awards. Even before the 2024 awards took place, initial planning and conversations around the decennial event were underway. The planning committee recognizes that it will be an important opportunity to shine a light on LADWP’s collaborations with business customers and the incredible environmental strides they have achieved in partnership, for the benefit of all Angelenos—and to share those with the city. The ten years since the event’s inception have brought significant changes to the Department, the City of Los Angeles, and the world at large, but LADWP’s commitment to working with its customers to create a greener future remains as strong, and as important, as ever.
2024 Sustainability Awards Winners
Energy Efficiency
Leadership Award 1st Place: City of Los Angeles Street Lighting
2nd Place: University of Southern California
3rd Place: WBCT LLC
Impact Award 1st Place: Colonnade Wilshire Corp
2nd Place: Automobile Club of Southern California
3rd Place: WBCT LLC
Water Conservation
Leadership Award 1st Place: Keck Medical Center of USC
2nd Place: AT&T Services, Inc.
3rd Place: Noemi Dunkelman
Electrification of Transportation
Leadership Award for Level 2 Chargers 1st Place: The Roberts Company
2nd Place: Los Angeles County
Tie - 3rd Place: Valley Presbyterian Hospital
Tie - 3rd Place: Douglas Emmett
Leadership Award for Level 3 Chargers
1st Place: EVgo
2nd Place: Los Angeles County
3rd Place: Hilton LAX
Demand Response
Leadership Award
1st Place: LAUSD
2nd Place: Los Angeles World Airports
3rd Place: Brookfield Properties
Impact Award 1st Place: Airgas
2nd Place: LA Cold Storage
3rd Place: Lineage Logistics
Details of First Place Winning Efforts
Energy Efficiency
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with City of LA Street Lighting.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_11.31a15d32a05f.jpg?)
First Place Leadership Award
City of Los Angeles Street Lighting
Saved 6,910,554 kWh annually under the Commercial Lighting Incentive Program (CLIP) by installing 17,723 pole mount fixtures.
Energy Efficiency
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with Wilshire Colonnade](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_12.1a572f7fc5b9.jpg?)
First Place Impact Award
Colonnade Wilshire Corp
Reduced annual electric use by 24.97% under the Commercial Lighting Incentive Program (CLIP) by installing 4,157 LED tube retrofits.
Water Conservation
![Bronze award shaped like a water drop engraved with USC](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_13.b12c4b2d13a2.jpg?)
First Place Leadership Award
Keck Medical Center of USC
Saved 1.74 million gallons annually under the Water Conservation Rebate Program by installing 232 flow restrictors.
Electrification of Transportation
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with Roberts Company](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_14.cab60be14f9c.jpg?)
First Place Leadership Award for Level 2 Chargers
The Roberts Company
Installed 160 Level 2 electric vehicle chargers under the Commercial EV Charging Station Rebate Program.
Electrification of Transportation
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with EVGO](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_15.a5af2e146c11.jpg?)
First Place Leadership Award for Level 3 Chargers
EVgo
Installed 11 Level 3 electric vehicle chargers under the Commercial EV Charging Station Rebate Program.
Demand Response
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with LAUSD](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_16.796d33e61130.jpg?)
First Place Leadership Award
LAUSD
Curtailed 7,047 kW under the Demand Response Program by increasing chilled water set temperature 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit, reducing interior lighting load, reducing plug load, and turning off miscellaneous fans and parking structure lighting.
Demand Response
![Bronze award shaped like light bulb engraved with Airgas USA LLC](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_17.bc4dd8033b54.jpg?)
First Place Impact Award
Airgas
Curtailed 94% of their base load for the entire 2023 DR season by shutting down process compressors at the facility.
Journey of a Trophy
![A graphic shows the journey of sustainability award from design to actual award and finally to a group photo of DWP staff with a winner.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_8.8998c0075bdf.jpg?)
Journey of a Trophy
Since 2019, first-place trophies have been fabricated from bronze by LADWP teams in-house. The process begins once the first-place winners have been determined and verified by the event planning committee and associated rebate program teams. From there, the Graphics team, which created the initial trophy design, makes the necessary adjustments to the face of the trophy to include customer and category information. Once complete, design files go to the Welding Shop. There, a water jet is used to cut out the trophies from a thick sheet of brass and inscribe them with each winner’s information. The Carpenter Shop then facilitates the trophies’ polishing while also building the custom trophy stands. After polishing, the Paint Shop sprays trophies with a lacquer meant to protect the polished metal from fingerprints. Only then can the Sustainability Awards Program committee collect the trophies to present at the event. In total, this process may take two and a half months.
Key Accounts Sustainability Awards Program Committee
![Group photo of smiling LADWP key accounts staff during Sustainability Awards event. A green banner is behind them.](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/in-focus_1920x1080_10.80e708482a08.jpg?)
Committee Members: Raymond Harper, Edneisha Lee, Ashley Rawls, Michael Reilly, Evelina Tverdohleb Management: Berenice Barajas, Bryan Schweickert, Latrice Williams
Additional In-House Support
Carpenter/Paint Shop: Ken Bowles, Leonard Medina, Jose Gutierrez, Cesar Lazo, Juan Jose Morales, Lorenzo Gutierrez, Mario Vallejo, Gabriel Garibay, Kevin Rodriguez
Communications and Corporate Strategy: Serena Beltran, Eric Botero, Reggie Brewer, Virginia Candia, Ellen Cheng, Michelle Figueroa, Chih-Hong Hsieh, Dominique James, Emily Rose Oachs, Joseph Ramallo, Terry Schneider
Customer Service Division: Saida Beckum
Distributed Energy Solutions: David Jacot, Lucia Alvelais, Arash Saidi, Zaw Htin
JFB Building Repair Group: Sandy Sahagun, John Lopez, Ralph Vazquez, James Perry, Jason Muchmore, LaGrante Stuart, Juan Perez, James Bjorseth, Chad Gibson, Stephenie Vega, Benjamin Olivas, Walter Veljacic, Mark Van Rosmalen
Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: LaTanya Bogin, Greg Reed
Power New Business and Electrification: Greg Sarvas
Reprographics: Oskar Solares, Jerry Loukatos, Johny Guevara, Robert Silva
Voice Network Services: Joe Medina
Water Conservation: Mark Gentili
Welding Shop: James Sullivan, Weston Niebla, Dan Rios
![](https://assets.foleon.com/eu-central-1/de-uploads-7e3kk3/27604/intake_masthead_01.e78e695d64f8.png?)