thermal power plants, which depend on water for cooling. WaterSmart’s comments focus primarily on the energy for water relationship rather than the water for energy relationship. As was noted in the Plan, reducing demand for both cold and hot water is a critical component in removing carbon emissions from California’s water system. WaterSmart supports the Plan’s recommendation to target to power “investments water systems with more renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiencies, and strategically reduce demand for carbon-intensive water”. WaterSmart is currently using behavioral science in more than three dozen utilities in “nudges” California to educate their customers about how much water their households use, how this usage compares to that of similar households and businesses, and how they can save water, energy, and money. Increasing public education and awareness with more precise, personalized and comparative information on use through monitoring software is proven through an independent evaluation to reduce water demand by 4.6% to 6.6%. In addition, customers receiving based messaging are between two and six times as likely to participate in water conservation programs offered by the utility, such as appliance rebates, water evaluations, and landscape conversions, further reducing demand for imported water and energy. Along the way, customers that receive social-norms based reports have improved trust and confidence in their utility, raising customer satisfaction levels. By deploying behavioral based, water-use monitoring software in the 412 largest California utilities, at 5% water savings, California will save 86,755,844,776 gallons of water per year, 183,644,857 kWh in energy/year and eliminate 419,646 mtCO2e/year. This volume of water, energy and emission savings is considerable and must not be ignored when developing California’s carbon reduction investment strategy. In order to properly acknowledge the impact of the water-energy nexus on GHG emissions reductions, we urge you to take the following actions: Develop or adopt a valid carbon accounting system for water and wastewater that includes greenhouse gas emission reductions from both
thermal power plants, which depend on water for cooling. WaterSmart’s comments focus primarily on the energy for water relationship rather than the water for energy relationship. As was noted in the Plan, reducing demand for both cold and hot water is a critical component in removing carbon emissions from California’s water system. WaterSmart supports the Plan’s recommendation to target “investments to power water systems with more renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiencies, and strategically reduce demand for carbon-intensive water”. WaterSmart is currently using behavioral science “nudges” in more than three dozen utilities in California to educate their customers about how much water their households use, how this usage compares to that of similar households and businesses, and how they can save water, energy, and money. Increasing public education and awareness with more precise, personalized and comparative information on through monitoring software is proven through an independent evaluation to reduce water demand by 4.6% to 6.6%. In addition, customers receiving based messaging are between two and six times as likely to participate in water conservation programs offered by the utility, such as appliance rebates, water evaluations, and landscape conversions, further reducing demand for imported water and energy. Along the way, customers that receive social-norms based reports have improved trust and confidence in their utility, raising customer satisfaction levels. By deploying behavioral based, water-use monitoring software in the 412 largest California utilities, at 5% water savings, California will save 86,755,844,776 gallons of water per year, 183,644,857 kWh in energy/year and eliminate 419,646 mtCO2e/year. This volume of water, energy and emission savings is considerable and must not be ignored when developing California’s carbon reduction investment strategy. In order to properly acknowledge the impact of the water-energy nexus on GHG emissions reductions, we urge you to take the following actions: Develop or adopt a valid carbon accounting system for water and wastewater that includes greenhouse gas emission reductions from both use