When you pour a glass and taste one of Vesper Vineyards' wines, Alysha Stehly wants you to taste San Diego.

A fourth-generation farmer, Alysha and her husband Chris Broomell is the duo behind the Escondido business.

For nearly 20 years, TransPower has been on the cutting edge of zero-emission, clean-tech heavy-duty powertrain technology - in short, creating electric-powered big rigs. 

Earlier in April, the company announced a major breakthrough - the completion of two multi-year projects in which they and one of the company's major investors successfully developed, tested, and evaluated advanced zero-emission electric yard tractors and Class 8 trucks. 

The success of the demonstration project puts TransPower one step closer towards the commercialization of cost-effective, environmentally friendly powertrain technology, said Joshua Goldman, TransPower's vice president of sales and marketing. 

"It's an honor after many years, many of us having worked for 20 years on zero-emission power train technologies, to be on the cusp of the commercialization of environmentally friendly drivetrain technology," Goldman said. "The biggest advantage of the technology is zero tailpipe emissions and the affordability of that homegrown electric fuel, and by going to zero emissions, our fleet partners are able to fuel their vehicles on site, operate vehicles in a clean and quiet environment, and help the branding of their company, given the strong sustainable message that zero-emission trucks provide."

TransPower's projects were funded in part by a $6 million grant from the California Energy Commission under its Alternative and Renewable Fuels and Vehicle Technologies Program, as well as investment from Meritor, Inc. (NYSE: MTOR), a leading manufacturer of axles and brake systems.

Yard tractors, commonly referred to as yard dogs, are semi-tractors that are used at locations such as cargo yards and warehouses to haul semi-trailers short distances. 

The electric yard tractors built under the recently concluded demonstration projects are operating at Dole Fresh Fruit's terminal at the Port of San Diego; the IKEA Distribution Center in Tejon; Grimmway Farms and Harris Ranch in the San Joaquin Valley; and Blue Diamond Almonds and Raley's in Sacramento. They have already accumulated more than 15,000 drive hours, a huge step towards validating that the electric drive trains can handle the workload of their gas-powered counterparts. 

The project's success has brought TransPower major interest from some of the world's biggest players in the commercial truck manufacturers and parts suppliers, including Kalmar Ottawa, Peterbilt, O.E.M. Company, and Meritor, which increased its strategic investment in the company to accelerate the production of the trucks and yard tractors. 

TransPower has received grants and contracts to convert 100 additional yard tractors and trucks to electric drive for use in California. They've operated in Escondido since 2016, after moving from Poway, and Goldman said the company has really enjoyed its new home. 

"It's been a great place to integrate technology, the permitting and politics have been favorable, and we were able to find great facilities and get them for a reasonable price," Goldman said. "And it's close to the boss's house," referring to founder and CEO Mike Simon, who actually started TransPower in his Escondido garage.

Baker Electric 

With year-round sunshine and an environmentally conscious population, California has been at the forefront of the residential solar industry.

Originally, solar-powered homes were on the fringe of the mainstream, considered financially out of reach for most homeowners.

But over the years, falling prices of electrical solar power, financial incentives for homeowners and developers to install them, and government requirements to include them on new development (California is the first state to require solar power for all new homes beginning this year) spurred an explosion in the residential solar industry over the past 15 years.

In Escondido, longtime electrical contractor Baker Electric seized the opportunity, starting Baker Electric Solar in 2007. Today Baker Electric Home Energy has become one of Southern California's largest installers of residential solar panel systems and home batteries. 

"When you look back to some of the first residential solar customers, the early days, a lot of reasons people did it were environmentally driven, it was a very green movement," said Keith Randhahn, Baker Electric's Director of Engineering. "And that is still a motivation for a lot of the movement towards renewables. But beyond that, the financial return has helped the growth of the industry."

Randhahn said that the lower cost of solar energy and the ability now to capture energy in home batteries makes it a financially viable alternative to fossil fuel energy from the power grid.

"People are able to consume power and live the lifestyle they like, run the air conditioning in their home when they want and not feel guilty about it," Randhahn said. 

For Baker, a fourth-generation family-owned company that has been in business since 1938, the move into residential solar has proven to be a boon: the company's solar division has grown from a dozen employees in 2007 to more than 200 currently, and all of the electricians are union-trained, setting them apart from many of their competitors, Randhahn said. 

And the company practices what it preaches: in 2009, Baker installed an 85,000-watt rooftop installation that reduces the company's carbon dioxide emissions by 106 tons annually. Over 25 years, that's roughly the equivalent of planting 2,275 trees or taking 507 cars off the road. 

The company, which ranks No. 1 in market share in the Southern California service area, has installed over 10,000 residential solar systems. Recently, Baker Electric Home Energy hosted State Sen. Brian Jones, who learned about their growth, diversification, and the recent move into their new 50,000-square-foot division headquarters.

Escondido has been a perfect location, Randhahn said. 

"It's perfectly situated and central, which allows us to reach south Orange County, southwest Riverside County, and the Inland Empire and cover a pretty broad geographic territory," Randhahn said. "And it has a very business-friendly environment, sufficient workforce, and a well-educated population."

Bimbo Bakeries USA

When Lorenzo Servitje founded Mexican bakery Grupo Bimbo in 1945, he did it with an eye towards sustainability.

"It was his purpose to build a sustainable, highly productive, and deeply humane company," said Leslie Adebayo, the corporate sustainability manager for Grupo Bimbo's US company, Bimbo Bakeries USA. "The company still lives by that motto, our current CEO, Lorenzo's son, believes it is imperative that we focus on sustainability."

That commitment to environmental sustainability trickles down to each of the company's bakeries, including its Escondido location near Palomar Medical Center.  On March 28, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented the company with a certificate from its Energy Star Program after earning Energy Star certification at 14 of its facilities in 2018, including the Escondido bakery. 

This marks a record for the most facilities receiving Energy Star certification in one year across all industries. The certification signifies that the industrial plant performs in the top 25% of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by Energy Star. 

The Escondido bakery will also likely receive recognition of its own in the next few months for completing the Energy Star Challenge for Industry, which calls on industrial sites to reduce their energy intensity by 10 percent within 5 years.

As one can expect, baking bread is an energy consuming task, using large amounts of natural gas and electricity in the baking process, Adebayo said. 

At the Escondido bakery and other locations, Bimbo has cut down on electrical usage by installing a system that shuts down the plant's system of conveyor belts - which are operated by 150 motors at any given time - when nothing is on the bakery line. 

"In a 24/7 operation, that adds up significantly," Adebayo said. "They have it at Escondido and are implementing it at every bakery. It's not always the easiest thing to implement, but Escondido was perfect, and the system has worked great."

The other big energy-saving addition at the Escondido plant came in 2017 by the way of a one-megawatt solar array. Covering the full roof area and some of the plant's covered parking, the system produces one-third of the power needed to operate the plant. 

"It has been a tremendous boon," Adebayo said. "The solar array helped us drop the energy by 10 percent, meeting the Energy Star Challenge."

Bimbo's sustainability mantra extends to its commitment to being good neighbors in the city in which they operate. 

In Escondido, Adebayo said, they produce a relatively low amount of waste and use a catalytic oxidizer that eliminates the "bread smell" - and associated carbon dioxide emissions - from escaping the plant.

"We've been good partners with the city," Adebayo said. 

The three businesses represent just a microcosm of the environmentally conscious firms and companies throughout the city - including the city itself. With the combined efforts, Escondido continues to do its part to leave the earth a little greener and a little better.

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From creating and maintaining systems to building new apps and infrastructures, software engineers can be found at nearly every company these days across every industry. And, with the rise of virtual reality, AI, and mobile and smart technology such as the Internet of Things, software engineers are at the forefront of some pretty exciting developments that promise to transform businesses. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be around 1.4 million more software development jobs in the country than applicants who can fill them in 2020. Institutions and other tech education programs can't seem to produce job candidates fast enough, resulting in the emergence of more coding schools, including one in Escondido. 

On February 27, hundreds gathered at the California Center for the Arts for the annual State of the City Address and City Council awards.

Each year, the council recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to improve the quality of life in Escondido through volunteer service. The city accepted nominations from the public, and a council subcommittee composed of John Masson and Michael Morasco narrowed down the nomination field to the group of nine winners.

This year, four of the nine honorees were businesses or business owners - William Toone of ECOLIFE Conservation, The Grand Tea Room's owners, Louisa and the late Bob Magoon, local landscape architect Glen Brouwer and Henry Avocado Corp.

"We are really fortunate to have such an engaged and active business community in Escondido," said Michelle Geller, the city's economic development manager. "The award recipients were selected for their invaluable contributions in the areas of conservation, business, service above self, and leadership."

ECOLIFE Conservation Efforts Get Council Nod

Imagine a world where man and nature coexist in harmony, where the improvement of human life and the protection of natural resources are not mutually exclusive.

This has been William Toone's vision for nearly four decades. In 2003, Toone, a conservation biologist, founded ECOLIFE Conservation with this noble goal as its mission.

Today, the Escondido-based nonprofit both educates and takes part in conservation and sustainability efforts across the globe: It educates thousands of children about sustainable agriculture practices and installs fuel-efficient stoves in poor communities in Mexico and Uganda that both improve the health and quality of life of the people who use them and protect the habitat of vulnerable species.

It was for this reason that the Escondido City Council presented Toone and ECOLIFE with the environmental conservation award during the Feb. 27 Escondido City Council Awards ceremony.

The honor has raised interest in the community in ECOLIFE's work, Toone said, and he welcomes the added exposure.

"It's a real honor," Toone said this week of the award. "The interesting thing is that in the short period of time since we've received it, it's made a big difference, as people have asked for more information about us.

"One of the challenging things with the organization is that we are 15 years old, but if you asked people if they have heard of ECOLIFE, the answer would most likely be no," Toone continued. "I believe the work we are doing is very important, and recognition like this helps spread the word. Without it, the word doesn't get out, and we would fail at our mission."

The Grand Tea Room: Business and Volunteerism

Nestled along a row of Grand Avenue storefronts in Downtown Escondido, the charming Grand Tea Room and its energetic owner Louisa Magoon have been fixtures in the city's core since opening in 2011.

Magoon started the business after years in the corporate side of the restaurant industry, drawing inspiration from similar tea rooms that she and her friends would frequent in south Orange County. While she searched around the county for a spot for her vintage-style tea house, she said her heart was set on opening in Escondido, her home for the past two decades.

"We lived in Escondido, and the thought of the Grand Tea Room on Grand Avenue seemed so cool," she said.

Louisa and her husband Bob landed the spot in early 2011 and opened the business in August of that year. It has been a hit ever since, as ladies and daughters come dressed in their dantiest attire and sip on tea and eat tiny cakes, sample marmalades, and buy memorabilia from the companion gift shop.

And the shop stays busy: on any given Saturday, more than 100 people will drop in or make reservations, Magoon said.

"We've gotten to the point where we've hosted bridal showers, and now we're hosting the baby showers for those brides," Magoon said. "I just really enjoy getting to know the customers."

Geller said that Louisa and her late husband Bob - who passed away in December after a long battle with cancer - received the business award not only for the success of the business, but their presence in the downtown business community.

"Not only does she run a successful business, she is very engaged with the Downtown Business Association, she's always donating to different events and volunteering her time and resources to the betterment of downtown," Geller said. "She is an example of a successful business, but she still volunteers so much of her time to help downtown Escondido."

Downtown Escondido, Magoon said, is a special place, and she enjoys being involved, getting to know her neighbors and fellow business owners, and giving back."It's been wonderful," she said about her involvement with the Downtown Business Association.

Magoon took time away during the bustling lunch hour to talk about the award, which she called a great honor."I feel honored, it didn't even occur to me that someone would nominate me," Magoon said. "But thank you, whoever that is."

Glen Brouwer: Service Above Self

There's an old saying: "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

Don't tell that to Glen Brouwer, a landscape architect who has called Escondido home for decades.

In early 2018, downtown merchants approached the city with a partnership opportunity to beautify Grand Avenue by purchasing trees, plants, and materials to replace the dying eucalyptus trees that lined the street.

The city was able to find funding to remove the trees, but the Downtown Business Association needed to find someone to design the new landscaping - at a steep discount.

Enter Brouwer, who owns Carlsbad-based Integration Design Studio Inc. Introduced to the city and the association by the city's landscaping contractor Steve Smith, Brouwer said the opportunity to give back to the community that he called home for all but a handful of years since moving to the United States from Canada as a child was too good to pass up.

He designed the landscaping for free.

"Glen stepped up and donated time and work creating a professional landscape plan for our medians along Grand Avenue," Geller said. "I don't know how much it would have cost to hire his firm. It probably would have put the project out of the realm of being able to do it."

His selfless act landed him the City Council award for "Service above Self."

Brouwer, who said he wishes he could do more work in his hometown, was surprised by the award."I was totally surprised, because I didn't do it for an award, I just saw it as an opportunity to give back in that way and help the Downtown Business Association," Brouwer said.  "I thought it was a good project to do, and it was something where I thought the DBA does great things for that area of Grand Avenue and I think that area needs some revitalization."

Henry Avocado: Staying True To Its Roots

Henry Avocado has deep roots in both Escondido and the avocado industry and continues to thrive today. The company just transitioned into a new headquarters, a packing and distribution center that it moved to in late 2018. The new 50,000-square-foot, two-story facility is 20 percent larger than the previous site. While remaining in Escondido, this move was made to accommodate the company's growth and to increase efficiency.

It was this choice to remain in Escondido that netted the company the biggest award of the day: Mayor Paul McNamara's Mayor's Award.

"The mayor recognizes the importance of the agricultural industry to Escondido, it's where our roots lie," Geller said. "Henry Avocado deciding to permanently put its headquarters here and expand was something the mayor really wanted to highlight. They are a family-owned business that has been here for a long time."

Staying in Escondido was a no-brainer for company president Phil Henry, who describes the city as having "a good business climate...and actually a good climate as well," he laughed.

Being located on Escondido's Harmony Grove Road gives the company a central location among its Southern California customers and easy access to Interstate 15 and Route 78. Henry Avocado was built on strong relationships with business associates and customers, which gives the company more reason to stay and grow in Escondido, according to Henry. Additionally, Escondido's economic development team is focused on expanding core industries like agriculture, making Henry Avocado's expansion one that fits within the City's strategic goals.

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