California Center for Sustainable Energy

Supervisor Ron Roberts represents San Diego County’s diverse Fourth District which includes 620,000 people and stretches across nearly 100 square miles.

Growing up in public housing in Linda Vista, Ron excelled in math as a high school student and went on to put himself through college, first earning an bachelor’s degree in social science from San Diego State and then a master’s degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. Before entering politics he served as managing partner of one of the region’s largest architectural firms.

Although modest by today’s standards, Ron has been active in sustainability issues since his days as an architect. His projects were designed to take advantage of natural light and often featured white roofs, strategic insulation and control systems that minimized energy bills. He designed his own home in Mission Hills to contain special glass that helped regulate its temperature.

The award-winning Uptown District in Hillcrest symbolized his firm’s efforts to create mixed-use projects that curtailed auto driving by providing multiple services in a single development. In Mission Valley, Ron’s team convinced transit planners to move a future trolley line to the other side of the river so it would serve the new Hazard Center project, an effort that required a significant concession of land by the project owner.

Most recently at the County of San Diego, Ron led the board in approving development of a $500 million County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa that meets LEED standards. From plentiful natural light and ceiling fixtures that don’t come on until needed and automatically shut off when no one is in the room to parking lot asphalt that practically absorbs water, it will be an amazingly green campus.

Prospective developers of alternative energy projects benefited when the County, at Ron’s urging, dramatically decreased the type of permit required for wind testing towers for wind power. Supervisor Roberts also successfully advocated that the county waive permit fees for home solar installations.

Using his positions with the Metropolitan Transit System and San Diego Association of Governments, Ron promoted the development of an energy-efficient transit fleet where electricity and natural gas are major sources of power and where some buses are powered by hydrogen.

Since 2000, Ron has used spring-time trade-in events to distribute more than 4,000 zero-emission lawn mowers, taking out of the air over 15 tons each year of volatile organic compounds (ozone precursors) emissions. This is equivalent to the hourly emissions of more than 150,000 late model automobiles.

To encourage innovative and environmentally-friendly urban construction, Ron helped develop, and fund, the Community Vision Award program. Its goal is to promote the construction of projects that will serve as examples for future urbanization throughout the region. The program provides $25,000 to further enhance the community in which the recognized project is located.

Supervisor Roberts regularly attends alternative energy forums and events. In 2004, he hosted a Solar Energy Conference to bring industry leaders together to discuss the future of renewable energy. He has hosted key business leaders and officials in his office to discuss the industry and has explained San Diego’s CleanTech efforts to international delegations. Ron has toured and talked with technology leaders about the potential of wind energy, solar farms and algae fuels and has joined educational leaders in celebrating large-scale solar installations.

As a member of the California Air Resources Board, Ron has had a hand in programs that offer incentives to industry players that switch to make use of clean technology.

Recently Ron was part of the launch of the siting and installation of nearly 1,500 chargers for electric vehicles. He is a strong supporter of the Sunrise Power Link and views it as a way of moving to San Diego electricity produced by alternative energy firms born from the region’s technological education and investment communities.

Supervisor Ron Roberts views San Diego’s clean technology industry as a key to the region’s economic future and quality of life, bringing with it cleaner air and new opportunity for our residents.