University City’s George Odero, engineering manager at California Center for Sustainable Energy, is a walking encyclopedia of all things energy efficient. And he didn’t get that way by staying around the house. Born in Kenya, Odero traveled to Texas in the mid-’70s to study engineering at the University of Texas. He became a California energy consultant in 1988 and designed and targeted K-12 public schools; later he designed and executed a pilot energy efficiency program with SDG&E for nonprofit organizations: not-for-profit schools, churches and credit unions. “Cash-strapped nonprofits are looking for savings and benefit from an energy consultant,” he assured. The solar-power industry hadn’t been born when Odero got into his energy efficiency business. His motto, which he recites with a grin, is simple and clear: “The best energy saved is the one you don’t use.” Odero said that fossil fuels, the environmental polluters, are also the major source of the world’s energy. “Think of the typical school,” he said, “with its air conditioning, light, heat. The building is called a building envelope. Schools built before Title 24 was passed in 1978 were energy hogs. Energy efficiency reduces costs, increases reliability and availability of electricity. It makes the building more comfortable and reduces impacts to the environment.” Title 24, brainchild of California legislator Leroy Green, directs architects and engineers to match energy standards. Meanwhile, a portion of taxpayer funding covered the work of consultants like Odero. “I formed a firm with an attorney, an architect and me, the engineer,” he said. “I marketed the school districts, starting first with the facilities manager, but I realized the superintendent of business was the one who would sign the check.” When asked if the San Diego Unified School District came on board early, Odero said that the district didn’t get involved until later, when the controversial Proposition MM was passed in 1998. Several big districts, including Los Angeles district, loved Odero’s plan. Odero trained many employees in his business as he consulted with several large and small districts like Julian, Sacramento and Riverside. When asked if he were ever home, he shook his head back and forth. “No! I was practically living out of my car, always traveling up and down the state. I was young and had a lot of energy myself and a lot of business throughout the state. I would do energy audits, look at their systems, analyze the building to figure out what they were doing and how they could save money.” The second Odero motto is “Reduce before you produce.” In other words, don’t just sign up with a solar company and ask for the same amount of energy you have now. Do a load shift, like laundry in off hours. Avoid high-demand charges from your utility company at the peak of power. The utility charges you for the highest demand of energy. If you use the energy when most others do, the utilities can charge you the most. “It’s like having a tank of gas,” Odero explained. “How much driving can you get out of it?” Odero decided to switch careers in the mid-’90s. He started manufacturing energy-efficient light bulbs that replace the fluorescent ones. He tried placing his product at Home Depot, but he learned that G.E. paid around a million dollars to have perfect display places. Instead, Odero advertised on his own webpage and in the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Can you imagine: My light bulbs were made in the same factory… one line making mine, another line making G.E. bulbs and the third one making Phillips’ lights. I had a shoestring operation, where I marketed SDG&E and residential customers.” It sounds like David and Goliath. Odero stayed in that mostly mail order business fromm 1996 to 2002. “Once I got the contract with SDG&E,” he said, “I quit the mail order business.” In 2006, Odero looked back at his roots in Kenya, and he built a school for disadvantaged kids and a library with 65,000 volumes. He provided free malaria medicine and mosquito nets for pregnant mothers and young children, free computer training for high school dropouts, small tractors for local farmers, small generators for schools, cooking oil processing machines for women. “It is not investors who are being asked to pay for the past fires or shutting down of San Onofre,” he explained, “but the ratepayers. The utilities charge for everything. If you install solar in 2016, you will be asked to pay a base charge to use the utility line.” Rates are going up about 5 percent each year, according to Odero. “An IOU like SDG&E,” he added, “is also pushing for rate structure change for future solar PV owners. It will discourage solar PV installations and impact jobs in San Diego.” Odero’s home solar system was installed in 2006 on the ground. He really enjoys helping people make the right solar decision: a direct purchase, a rental or a power purchase agreement with no money down.  In the power purchase, the solar company becomes your utility company, and you buy everything you produce from them. Odero refuses to retire because consulting is so much fun. “I have a long history with energy efficiency and solar,” he says, “and I love to share with residents and commercial customers.” He also appreciates the nation “for providing me with an opportunity for education, business opportunities and a great place to raise my family.” As a University City volunteer, Odero is chair of University City’s July Fourth celebration. 2016 will be his fifth year in this role in 2016. From Kenya to California, George Odero has shared his time, talents and energy.