- Mayor R. Rex Parris shared the lessons learned from the City's effort to 
achieve net-zero in 2019 and to become the first hydrogen city in the U.S.

City of Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris addressed global business and government 
leaders in Tokyo, Japan for World Smart Energy Week. Parris' keynote address 
focused on the City's early effort to reach net-zero energy, which was achieved 
in 2019, and its recent efforts to become the first hydrogen city in the U.S.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1895093/CA_Lancaster.jpg 

"Since my first term as mayor in 2008, I have prioritized improving the 
environmental and economic conditions for the citizens of Lancaster. We started 
by searching for solutions that could help leverage locally available resources 
and seeking out partners that could help us make the most of those solutions in 
our City," Parris said during his keynote speech.

Over the course of Parris' five terms as mayor, he has transformed Lancaster 
into a renewable energy leader by attracting more than $2 billion of investment 
in green companies and technologies. The City of Lancaster's business investors 
include BYD, which manufactures electric buses; Heliogen, which generates 
hydrogen from concentrated solar energy; SGH2, which gasifies wastepaper into 
hydrogen; and Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), which converts organic waste into 
renewable natural gas and hydrogen. The City also started its own utility 
company, Lancaster Energy, allowing residents access to local renewable energy 
at lower prices.

"Lancaster's hydrogen journey is just beginning. Our partnerships, especially 
with Namie and the Japanese business community, demonstrate how a small city in 
the California desert can take control of its trajectory and turn that desert 
into a green energy asset," said Parris. "We remain steadfast in our commitment 
to hydrogen and look forward to a day when hydrogen is a common solution across 
the state of California, the United States, and the broader Pacific."

SOURCE  City of Lancaster, California

CONTACT: Peter Thompson, peter.thompson@fticonsulting.com