Oh, thanks for joining us for sustaining us here on KLCS PBS, I'm David, as are many of you have possibly heard, the term Solar Decathlon, especially if you're a college student.

Solar Decathlon is a US Department of Energy Education project where college student teams from dozens of universities all over the U.S. and around the world compete each year to design and construct the most high efficiency net zero residential and commercial buildings.

The winning students must find the most innovative ways to build with all sorts of renewable materials while taking into account things like affordability, resiliency, sustainability and occupant health.

The winners of the Solar Decathlon are the teams which best combine architectural excellence and innovation.

For Solar Decathlon, 2020 teams of students from about 30 universities competed virtually due to COVID.

The DOE awarded grand prize Co-winners with the University of Oregon taking first prize for the commercial Building Division.

Miami University of Ohio took first prize for the residential building division and Southern California.

Well, so Cal was also in the house, so to speak.

Representing UCLA took second place in the urban single family housing category for their sustainable house known as CASA Mass.

And we begin our broadcast with an overview of Team UCLA's virtual presentation about Cosmos.

Cosmos is an affordable, adaptable accessory dwelling unit, or Adu designed to serve the residents of Los Angeles in southern California.

The modular architectural design is easily adaptable to fit a range of budgets and backyard customers is a resilient home that can withstand pollution, drought, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

And furthermore, is future ready with great monetization capabilities.

Cosmos is sustainable because it is efficiently insulated and comes equipped with energy efficient appliances to reduce energy consumption.

Cosmos as an equitable source of income for local residents that resist neighborhood gentrification and puts control in the hands of residents rather than the hands of developers.

And finally, by leveraging subsidies, Casamance is affordable both for homeowners and for residents.

Our team recognized the opportunity to design a prototype for a standalone unit that can be easily and affordably replicated in backyards across Los Angeles by leveraging ADU construction subsidies.

Our goal is to create a resilient future where local residents will be able to invest in their own land.

Located in South Los Angeles.

Casamance is a prototype that can be used to pioneer the adoption of its use in one of the most underserved areas of the city.

As you can see here, the canopy structure of Casamance provides patio space shade and can be converted to a second story.

It uses both sustainably sourced and fire resistant building materials.

Furthermore, the Slope zero scheme reduces water usage without sacrificing comfort or esthetic.

The greywater recapture system reduces water usage and improves resilience.

Cancer Moss is a solar battery and electric vehicle, constantly ready to provide blackout resistance and contribute to grid modernization.

Finally, trees provide shooting combat, the urban heat island effect and clean air.

Casamance has earthquake resistant foundations that also minimize site disturbance.

The prefabricated side panels reduce both cost and waste.

The prefabricated plumbing wall simplifies construction and maintenance and reduces cost.

And finally, solar panels generate income to offset construction costs.

The cosmos We imagine a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future.

And we hope to see these innovations and attitudes.

Adopted across the world.

And joining me now to discuss this further is Martha Crowley.

Martha was the lead on Team UCLA for their Cosmos second place win.

Martha recently graduated from UCLA with her master's in architecture, with an emphasis on sustainability and resiliency, as well as environmental and social justice.

Also joining me is Dr. Mike Moody and Mike Moody.

And as a doctor of education, he teaches social science at Chapman University and is part of the leadership studies program there.

Mike specializes in public policy as well as environmental and sustainability research.

He's one of the leading Southern California voices on policy matters.

Mike helped, in fact, put together the Solar Decathlon for its two tournaments in the city of Irvine this past decade.

Thank you both so much for being here.

Appreciate you having you.

Thank you, David, for having us.

It's great to be here.

And Mike, let's begin with you, Solar Decathlon.

I remember it was created about 20 years ago today, the decathlon.

It's really evolved into so much more than just a solar technology, you could say.

Talk about this evolution, Mike.

Sure, I'd be happy to.

David The Solar Decathlon.

The reason that it exists is because of the vision of a brilliant engineer from the U.S. Department of Energy by the name of Richard King.

And King had this idea 20, 23 years ago, late 1990 and early two, thousands of organizing this massive educational event that would bring together students from various universities.

For many years, this took place in Washington, D.C. Then it then took place in Irvine, California, in Orange County at the Great Park in 2013 and 2015.

And I assisted informally with the team O.C.

that competed in 2015, and then it went on to Denver and and elsewhere.

And now it's this international all event where King travels the world and he helps put these on in all various areas of the United States.

But what started, as you know, this event where the students would would build these solar powered and energy efficient homes has really expanded into an international educational competition.

It's really quite impressive.

And King truly is leaving his mark.

Mike, as you know, California has such ambitious sustainability and environmental goals.

Whether you agree or disagree, not everybody's on the environmental bandwagon.

With that said, how does Solar Decathlon, especially in a blue state like California, advance this going green narrative?

It's a great question, David.

As you said, our legislature, our governor in California, we have very, very ambitious goals as it relates to clean energy, banning the internal combustion engine and many, many other factors, probably more so than any other state in the United States, sort of cap on.

And I'm part of a team we're working on hopefully trying to launch a West Coast version of this sometime in the coming years.

The reason why these types of events are so important is because number one, they're educational.

Not only is this an event that brings together college students, but it's open to the public.

It brings tens of thousands of people to the site, elementary school kids, junior high high school kids, the community where they come and they not only get to tour these amazing houses that students such as as Martha helped design and create, but there is an exposition.

They learn about clean energy, and it's it's really like a sustainable energy fair of it takes place during three or four weeks in the respective cities that these events are held in.

So they're educational and they help inspire and foster the next generation of brilliant students who will then, you know, help contribute to these clean technology goals that California and other states are ambitiously trying to pursue.

Martha, your opinion about the going green phenomenon throughout parts of the u.s. and the contributions students such as yourself with solar decathlon have made for these efforts?

Yeah, i absolutely agree with everything that Mike was saying.

Solar decathlon is such a great way to teach students how to design sustainably.

We learn about building techniques, passive cooling and heating, relevant codes and legislation, and just how to measure the efficiency of our designs.

And it really only can help in the long run as we enter our respective professions and carry that knowledge with us and just help to spread it further and share with other people in our professions.

Martha In simple terms, what is an accessory dwelling unit or ADU as it's commonly referred to, that was part of your virtual presentation about Cosmos.

Talk about that, Martha.

Well, in simple terms, it's essentially a smaller house that's built on the same property as an existing home.

There's sometimes called granny flats or backyard homes, and they really serve as living spaces, sometimes for older relatives, or they can be rented out for additional incomes.

And they're a really great way to increase density in a neighborhood without removing any existing housing.

That's what makes them so fantastic.

Also, Martha, what technologies did you use to design Cosmos in a video we saw earlier?

Well, generally speaking, we applied design principles that reduce power usage, such as passive heating and cooling.

And the landscape design also uses native plants and trees that require very little water, while also shading the unit and supporting local ecology.

We also considered supply chain and construction management.

For example, Castle Moss uses modular kind of parts construction so that it can be easily adapted to different backyard configurations.

And this is really great because it keeps costs low and simplifies construction.

It also minimizes impact on the site, which has the added added benefit of keeping neighbors really happy.

And one innovation that I really want to highlight is the solar canopy, this fire resistant wood structure shades the entire home because it spans over top of the entire structure and it passively reduces the energy requirements.

And with the addition of 16 solar panels, CMOs can operate as a net zero structure, meaning that the solar panels can produce all of the energy that that's required to support the home.

And what's even more exciting is the canopy can support up to 48 solar panels, meaning it could potentially produce three times more energy than is required to support just the ADU.

So you could go back to providing power to the main house on the property or selling power back to the grid for a profit.

And all of these additions and upgrades can easily be done incrementally over time because the home is electrically and structurally configured to support it at the time of its construction.

Mike, let's broaden out the discussion a bit.

Why is Solar Decathlon a viable investment for the Department of Energy, the DOE?

Because we should point out this does cost a lot of taxpayer money, Correct.

Shouldn't private money potentially be paying for all of this funding?

This Great question, David.

At the end of the day, it is a a partnership between the government sector and the private sector, because these events do take in a lot of money from private sector, clean technology companies as well by way of the exposition, etc.. David The best way to answer that question is I would argue that the reason why it's a worthwhile taxpayer investment is the same reason why, you know, our states and various levels of government spend so much on education.

If you look at the AP, at the UC system in California, I would argue that California wouldn't have one of the largest economies in the world where it's where it not for its investment in the U.S. system, the Cal State system and the community college system.

And Martha, getting back to your UCLA team, win with Cosmos for Solar Decathlon 2020, who did you collaborate with?

Who did you work with?

In other words, I know there was sort of an interdisciplinary part of all of this for your project.

Sure.

Well, we had a total of 15 students on our team, and they have backgrounds in everything from economics to bioengineering.

Many team members were also part of Bruin Home Solutions, which is another club on campus that focuses on innovations in sustainability.

In addition, we consulted with a number of advisors, both in industry and on campus, and I want to emphasize that this was really a true interdisciplinary collaboration.

We needed to study the site code and climate, configure electrical and plumbing systems, design the architecture and landscape, analyze energy usage, and finally put it all together in a graphically compelling way.

And coordinating this all at the start of the pandemic was such a major achievement, and I'm so proud of the team and what we finally accomplished at the end.

And Mike, back to you on public policy matters.

Solar Decathlon has become sort of, I guess you could say, a political football.

In other words, with past Democrat administrations.

I do remember that there was money spent for Solar Decathlon.

It sort of was a priority.

Certainly, I'm not saying Republicans do not care about the environment, although Republicans I talk to do care about the environment.

However, if I'm not mistaken, is it correct that during the Trump administration, a good part of the funding for the decathlon, it was scaled back, correct, Mike?

Correct.

Because remember, during the Trump administration, Rick Perry was the initial secretary of energy.

Perry led the Department of Energy.

So certainly the priorities were different as it related to events such as this one and many, many other endeavors as well.

One could argue.

So, yes, that is one challenge, is that with these types of events, sometimes if you have maybe an administration that comes in that perhaps, you know, believes or has has goals that are of a different extreme, it can it can lead to these types of events where, for example, the latest word decathlon, there were there were a couple of Department of Energy events that were combined.

And then COVID, of course, also really threw a wrench in it in terms of everything that that we're doing as a society.

Last few questions, Martha.

As you know, terrible housing shortage in L.A., all over SoCal.

We really should talk about affordable housing.

There's a lot of gentrification going on.

Critics, as you know, say the gentrification has been displacing particularly low income folks, people of color.

Those in disadvantaged communities could your cosmos actually be a prototype for a housing solution going forward?

Yes.

In fact, in 2018, it was estimated that Los Angeles needed to add over half a million affordable housing units just to meet current demand.

And our design isn't a panacea by any means, but it is a way to potentially address housing shortages by keeping economic power in the hands of homeowners.

And the issue isn't just that there's a housing shortage, but that new housing is typically built by large developers and is often too expensive, which leads to gentrification and displacement.

Without providing more affordable housing.

So Casamance is intended to be an affordable prototype that does, as you said, helped pioneer the adoption of its use in some of the most underserved areas of Los Angeles.

Because the design is adaptable and affordable, homeowners can obtain a reliable source of income while also providing additional housing.

And we hope that through government regulation, some of which we've already seen, this process can be supported and continued in the future.

Thank you so much, Dr. Mike.

Shooting of Chapman University and Martha Crawley of UCLA, a proud Bruin.

Thank you, David.

Thank you.

Now, sustainability obviously involves a lot more than things like net zero houses and all the buildings we've been talking about the clean air, the clean water.

We discuss insects are a vital part of the sustainability landscape, and honeybees are a critical component of our ecosystem.

They act as highly efficient pollinators for all sorts of crops and plants.

However, in recent years, a honeybee population has been drastically decreasing, with a loss of well over 10 million beehives.

That's worth billions of dollars.

Some scientists estimate that's almost half the honeybee population.

Well, two scientists in the Pacific Northwest are working together to try and save the honeybee from what's known as C, C, D disorder or colony collapse disorder.

And these Washington state scientists are investigating a most unconventional remedy.

Here is public media partner, Earth fix with our story.

Right.

Wow.

Very nice.

These girls are fantastic.

I left that lit up, and those girls are solid across there.

And they're making honey and they're making babies.

Eric Olson owns more colonies than any beekeeper in Washington State.

At all.

There's nothing greater than to open a beehive.

And see, I'm doing well.

They're doing well today.

Look at that.

I'm really tickled with this.

But just months ago, he opened his hives and discovered nearly half his bees were dead.

I spent 20 years as a pilot in the Air Force and my share of combat situations.

And I never was as low as I was when all those bees are dead.

That's the lowest time of my life.

It turns out this may be the new normal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that nearly half of colonies across the country died in the 2014 season.

Big losses have been happening for years and scientists haven't pinpointed what's causing them.

They say more than 60 factors may play a role in collapsing colonies.

Factors like pesticides, malnutrition and loss of habitat.

If we don't find some answer, I am really concerned about whether these little girls will survive.

But one unlikely solution may be growing close by.

In the forests of Western Washington, for another way to enter Paul Stamets.

He's a pioneer in the study of mushrooms.

There's a beautiful specimen.

The white margin here, it means, is growing really well.

What I call happy mushrooms makes me a happy person to grow.

I'm involved in the study of fungi ever since a very young age.

My initial interest was magic mushrooms.

And then I got into edible mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms and my mother was much happier.

Stamets scours the forests for rare types of fungi.

I use mycology and the use of fungi to help clean up the environment, improve the immune system of animals.

And I began to think, We've gone to the moon, we've gone to Mars, and we don't know the way of the bee.

All right.

You know, but I could do something to help the bees.

Stamets recently discovered a mushroom that might be able to take on one of the honeybees worst enemies.

And that's called the varroa mite with the name Varroa Destructor.

Varroa mites began wreaking havoc on U.S. beehives in 1996.

We lost about half the colonies east of the Mississippi.

Over that.

Winter.

Steve Shepherd is an entomologist at Washington State University.

He's spent decades trying to understand how varroa mites cripple honeybees.

He says they invade hives and attach themselves to infant bees.

I always think of it as having something about the size of a pancake feeding on you.

They live off bee blood and transmit a slew of viruses to their hosts.

Some sickly bees lose the ability to fly and gather food for the hive.

Many end up dying prematurely.

They'll kill the colony within a couple of years unless beekeepers intervene.

That's why Shepherd decided to try a new approach.

Something doesn't look quite right with it.

Yeah.

It'll never fly.

He teamed up with Paul Stamets.

Stamets told them about a type of fungus that's highly attractive and highly lethal to termites.

Shepherd wondered what this termite killing mushroom extract would do to the varroa mite.

So we should.

Do something with his.

Very.

He recently started testing the product on bees in his lab.

So we take these from colonies of high might levels.

We set up numerous cages, some with fungus.

They're finding that the product is killing mites without harming bees.

It's certainly.

Encouraging.

So far.

And that's not all that mushrooms can do for bees.

Bees have immune systems just like we do.

And these mushrooms, they're like miniature pharmaceutical factories.

Their initial results show that certain forest mushrooms can reduce viruses in bees and help them live longer.

I think I've discovered now that the fungi that are running the logs are absolutely critical for the immunological health of the bees.

This is a really interesting potential breakthrough in understanding how nature works and how we co-evolved with fungi.

Shepherd and Stamets plan to expand both experiments by partnering with commercial beekeepers.

Eric Olson was the first to sign up.

I don't have too much hair left.

I have pulled my hair out.

We just can't seem to get a control on the varroa mite.

We've got our fingers crossed.

The future of Western honeybee colonies in the billions of dollars of crops they pollinate may depend on it.

Thanks or thanks for that report.

Well, for years, China has been taking out our garbage.

Literally, in this case, tons and tons of us recycling each year.

However, China drastically reduced its imports of plastic waste.

Basically, China banned the import of most plastics and other materials that wealthy nations have been sending to China's recycling processors.

Now the US must decide exactly what to do with our garbage.

We revisit public media partner Earth Fix for this report.

Recycling seems easy until it's not.

Most of us at some point have thrown something in the recycling bin, hoping it's recyclable.

And if it's not, there's only one backup plan.

So why would a recycling end up in a landfill?

Recycling looks easy from the curb.

We put stuff in a bin, the truck picks it all up and it all gets recycled.

Right.

But where does it go when it leaves the curb?

That big jumble of stuff has to be sorted at places like this.

Here, workers grab things that aren't recyclable and throw them in the trash.

What kinds of things they're grabbing?

Depends on where you live.

Many places can't recycled plastic bags, coffee cups or Styrofoam.

So you can put them in your recycling bin, but they'll still end up in the trash.

To make money, recycling companies have to take out piles of recycling and sort it in materials they can sell.

The paper buyers don't want any plastic.

The plastic buyers don't want any paper.

Nobody wants paper or plastic that's covered in food waste.

And the sorting process is far from perfect.

But until recently, we still had buyers for contaminated recyclables.

There were Chinese buyers out there who were willing to buy it, paying high prices for material that honestly had a lot of contamination in it.

A lot of things that shouldn't have been in there.

The U.S. produces about 130 million tons of recycling a year, and we can't reuse all of it here.

About a third of it is sold to buyers overseas.

And of that, nearly half was going to China, but not anymore.

Now they're cutting off and they're trying to clean up.

So they don't want to take our garbage anymore.

The countries do not want to be a dumping ground for the rest of the world.

Starting this year, China has new rules, though only by recycling with 0.5% contamination or less.

That's like one empty paper towel roll mixed in with two plastic bottles.

Which brings us to without Chinese buyers, some of our recycling has nowhere to go.

Recyclers say they're slowing down and trying to do a better job of sorting.

But the results still aren't clean enough for China.

And more and more, recycling keeps coming.

The only option left.

So is this the end of recycling as we know it?

In some cases, yes.

Some towns have stopped collecting curbside recycling.

So all the stuff that used to be recycled now just goes to the dump.

Other places are changing the rules to take only the paper and plastic.

They know they can still sell.

Some say the solution may be adding more curbside recycling bins or ticketing people who put the wrong things in the recycling.

Perhaps we could get robots to sort our recycling for us.

There's no one answer that will fix everything what's broken in our recycling system.

But there is one fix that's in our hands, too.

Thanks for the fix for that report.

Now for more information about our program, just click on KLCS.org and then click.

Contact us to send us your questions and comments, even your story ideas so we can hear from you.

And I'm going to definitely get back with you.

Be sure to catch our program here on PBS or catch us on a PBS mobile app for All Things Sustainable.

Thank you so much for joining us for this addition of sustaining us here on KLCS PBS.

I'm David Nazar.