Electricity in California: dirty secrets and clean innovations

By Joel Levin

What really happens when you turn on your air conditioner on a hot July afternoon? Do you know where your electricity comes from? How dirty (or clean) is it really? Considering that electricity production is one of our biggest sources of air pollution and a major cause of climate change, you ought to know the answers to these questions by heart.

Geothermal power plant near San Francisco. Renewables like geothermal make up only 12 percent of the state’s energy sources, but state law requires that percent rise to 20 by 2017. photo courtesy Pacific Gas & Electric

The chart below shows the main sources of California’s electricity. While heavy reliance on coal, nuclear, and natural gas may make you think that our electricity supply is pretty dirty, in fact, it’s cleaner than most other states because of our relatively low reliance on coal—the dirtiest source of generation. Nevertheless, there is plenty more that we could be doing. For the U.S. as a whole, coal supplies about half the electricity. In some parts of the Midwest, it’s over 80 percent. Moreover, much of the coal that keeps our lights on in the Golden State is actually being burned in Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico, where air pollution standards are less stringent.

Renewable energy

About 12 percent of our power currently comes from renewable energy. What does that mean? According to California’s definition, renewable energy includes power from wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and small hydroelectric dams. (Small dams are relatively clean, while large dams—like Hoover and Glen Canyon—have major environmental impacts and cannot be considered renewable energy.) Unfortunately, solar—the cleanest but priciest source of energy—is still a very tiny part of this mix—about 0.3 percent.

Sources of California's electricity, 2003

California Energy Commission

The good news about renewable energy in California is that it is growing rapidly. Current state law requires large private utilities to have at least 20 percent of their power mix from renewables by 2017. L.A. Department of Water and Power has also committed itself to this 20 percent goal. To achieve this target, the utilities are starting to make big investments in new renewable energy—primarily wind power, as it is the cheapest to build.

There is now a bill in the state Legislature (S.B. 107, introduced by Sen. Joe Simitian) to require the utilities to achieve their 20 percent goal by 2010. Sen. Kevin Murray’s S.B. 1 (supported by the governor) would create a variety of incentives and requirements for new buildings with the goal of creating a million solar homes by 2020. If successful, this would be an unprecedented boost for solar power. See Take Action to find out how you can help pass these two important bills.

Energy efficiency

There are lots of important reasons to support renewable energy. But for the biggest and quickest environmental bang for the buck, nothing beats energy efficiency. It is still far cheaper and cleaner to save electricity by installing modern energy-efficient lighting and appliances than it is to build renewable generation. California has invested heavily in energy efficiency in recent years to the point that we are now, per capita, the most energy-efficient state in the country—power crisis or not. Nevertheless, plenty more remains to be done.

Peak power

Our use of electricity fluctuates widely over the course of the day and as the seasons change. Demand peaks on those hot summer afternoons when everyone cranks up their air conditioners. At those times, air conditioning uses up to a third of our total power. Decisions on building new power plants are based around ensuring that we have ample supply to avoid blackouts at those moments (see “The Peaker Plant Rush” on this page).

So if you want to avoid new power plants in California, and all of the environmental impacts that they create, the most important step you can take is to keep your usage low on those hot summer afternoons: Turn down your air conditioner, turn off a few lights, and hold off on using the dishwasher or clothes dryer till the hottest part of the day has passed.

Climate change and greenhouse gases

After transportation, electricity is our biggest source of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide. As we are all painfully aware, the Bush administration has opted out of the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has refused to even recognize carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The good news is that California has taken a variety of steps to track and reduce its own emissions of greenhouse gases. One of the most important was the establishment of the California Climate Action Registry.

The California Registry is a voluntary state initiative that encourages businesses to start tracking their greenhouse gas emissions, publicly reporting them, and developing strategies to reduce them. Most of California’s large electric utilities now participate in the registry. You can find data on their total greenhouse gas emissions online at www.climateregistry.org/CARROT/Public. Beginning next year, they will also be reporting the carbon intensity of their power. This will allow the public to more easily compare various power companies and find out how they compare for climate impact.

Take Action

Contact your representatives in the state Senate and Assembly and urge them to support S.B. 107 (Simitian) that would accelerate the 20 percent renewable requirement to 2010 and S.B. 1 (Murray) that would help create a million solar homes by 2020). To find out who your legislators are and how to reach them go to www.leginfo.ca.gov/.

Joel Levin is an activist on the Clean Air, Energy, and Global Warming Committee and former chair of the Energy Committee of the Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter. He is also vice president of the California Climate Action Registry. He can be reached at jlevin-at-climateregistry.org.

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