07 Jul 2009
The City of Los Angeles last week committed to completely eliminate the use of electricity generated using coal by 2020, replacing the 40 per cent of the city's coal power with energy from renewable sources.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that the city would stop buying energy produced from coal plants outside the state by 2020.
Instead, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will deliver 40 per cent of its power from renewable sources, with the rest coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric sources. The immediate goal is to get 20 per cent of the city's power from renewables by next year.
The move is part of a major low-carbon initiative from the Mayor, who also recently announced plans to develop a clean-tech corridor designed to help revitalise the city's economy through the creation of green jobs.
He used the fourth State of the City Address in April to announce plans to bring together research, commercial and residential clean-tech projects into a five-mile strip of former industrial land. The mayor said that a 20-acre Clean Tech Manufacturing Centre will be built, along with a Clean Innovations Research Centre, and a LEED-compliant neighbourhood called Cornfields Arroyo Seco.
"This is a unique moment of opportunity," said the mayor. "It's an opportunity to stand at the forefront of the clean-tech revolution; to transform our old industrial core into ground zero for green jobs and sustainability."
The planned initiative was announced at the same time as the CleanTech Los Angeles scheme – a partnership between business, government and academia, designed to support clean-tech projects in the city.
The scheme will aim to provide a wide range of support for clean-tech developers, providing them with advice on how to commercialise products, apply for funding, develop a market, and put together an economic development strategy.
Partners include the University of California, Los Angeles, California Institute of Technology, and the Los Angeles Business Council.
LATEST STORIES ABOUT TECHNOLOGY
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
LATEST JOBS
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
HIGHLIGHT
Model X sports Back to the Future-style "falcon doors" and is set to go on sale in 2014
INSIGHT
INSIGHT
The science and practical application of an improved method for the specification of power and cooling infrastructure for data centres
A look at alternative approaches to managing energy for cost and/or sustainability reasons in data centres
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Add your comment
fairy tale
The city gets its power, from a practical standpoint from the Boulder dam and supported by the 4-corners coal fired power plant-this is what keeps the grid stable. These plants are required for the load stability of the system to be able to keep other grid-tied systems (wind and solar) on-line and without them, the system would fail. Pretending that you do not use these sources is laffable and hypocrital at the very least. Just because you do not purchase power directly (on paper) from the coal fired plants in the 4-corners area, which are the largest coal fired plants in the US, does not mean they do not actually supply the majority of the power being used. In an interconnected grid system-all power is the same, just as if a small stream runs into a river. The water cannot be seperated out once it is in the river. The purchase of power is a paper construct designed by folks who do not want to admit the truth, and not a reality based system. LA uses a very large quantity of power and you cannot hide that fact by paper contracts showing where the power supposedly comes from-this is just the emporers new clothes being reinacted over and over. Get real and get off the grid if you want to make a difference. Shut down the 4-corners power plant and see what happens if you want a reality check.
Posted by Bill, 09 Jul 2009