When I ask the director of SMUD’s Sustainable Communities initiative why a public utility is doing something other than just keeping the lights on, he says without missing a beat, “That’s exactly what this program is doing: keeping the lights on. And turning on some new ones.”
Jose Bodipo-Memba is a 10-year veteran of SMUD, a former high school basketball coach and teacher in what he calls “a pretty rough section” of Oakland, a longtime environmental consultant and as of July 1, chair…