California, our 'golden state', is often viewed as America's leading economy and the vanguard of social change. That image has recently taken a beating because of its budget crisis which could not be resolved until banks began refusing to accept state warrants as legal tender. Nevertheless, the California Utilities Commission has authorized a large chunk of money to make energy efficiency a permanent part of the California lifestyle. The calculus to achieve energy independence requires a large factor of energy conservation. The more energy Americans conserve and use efficiently the fewer barrels of imported foreign oil, and a greater percentage of total energy demand that can be met using clean alternative sources. Last Thursday, the Commission launched the largest energy efficiency effort in our nation's history. It approved $3.1 billion for an energy efficiency budget for Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Gas Company. The Commission hopes to achieve savings of about 7,000 gigawatt hours of electricity and 150 million therms of natural gas. These savings equal approximately three 500 megawatt power plants and three million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The effort to make California energy efficient on a statewide scale includes an unprecedented program to retrofit private residences. The goal there is to reduce energy consumption by 20% for 130,000 homes by 2012. All of these efforts are driven by the state's commitment in its Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 25% in 2020. Once again California sets an example for the rest of the nation to follow.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
California Goes Green Big Time
California, our 'golden state', is often viewed as America's leading economy and the vanguard of social change. That image has recently taken a beating because of its budget crisis which could not be resolved until banks began refusing to accept state warrants as legal tender. Nevertheless, the California Utilities Commission has authorized a large chunk of money to make energy efficiency a permanent part of the California lifestyle. The calculus to achieve energy independence requires a large factor of energy conservation. The more energy Americans conserve and use efficiently the fewer barrels of imported foreign oil, and a greater percentage of total energy demand that can be met using clean alternative sources. Last Thursday, the Commission launched the largest energy efficiency effort in our nation's history. It approved $3.1 billion for an energy efficiency budget for Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Gas Company. The Commission hopes to achieve savings of about 7,000 gigawatt hours of electricity and 150 million therms of natural gas. These savings equal approximately three 500 megawatt power plants and three million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The effort to make California energy efficient on a statewide scale includes an unprecedented program to retrofit private residences. The goal there is to reduce energy consumption by 20% for 130,000 homes by 2012. All of these efforts are driven by the state's commitment in its Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 25% in 2020. Once again California sets an example for the rest of the nation to follow.