Los Angeles will end use of coal-fired power (by 2020 - prices expected to rise)

Reuters ^ | 7/02/09 | Bernie Woodall

[Libloather]

Los Angeles will end use of coal-fired power
Thu Jul 2, 2009 4:33pm EDT
By Bernie Woodall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy sources, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Consumers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest city-owned utility in the United States with 1.45 million electricity customers, will see higher power bills in the fight against climate change, he added in his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor on Wednesday.

California does not have any coal-fired power plants, a leading contributor to greenhouse gas pollution, but the LADWP now gets 40 percent of its electricity from coal plants outside the state.

"LADWP will deliver 40 percent renewable power, with the remainder coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric," said Villaraigosa.

Coal and natural gas-fired power now account for 76 percent of the electricity delivered by the LADWP. By 2020, the LADWP expects to cut its carbon emissions by up to 60 percent from 1990 levels, according to the mayor's office.

Villaraigosa said the LADWP will meet its goal of getting 20 percent of its power from renewables by 2010.

[Libloather]

Why not just cut off the power during daylight hours? An instant 50% savings!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Democrats: Progress toward the Tenth Century.

[Joe Boucher]

Start back yard fires using old auto tires.
Wait til the wind is heading in a neighbors direction you don’t care for.

[kittymyrib]

Texas will sell them some of our natural gas...at suitably inflated prices...since the dummies in CA refuse to use their own natural resources. Guess they don’t need the money.

[GAB-1955]

Sure. Power is fungible. It doesn't matter from which source it came. Los Angeles is still looking at natural gas and hydro for 60 percent of its needs.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Villaraigosa could get his “renewable energy” and solve some of L.A.’s 11 percent unemployment. They city could hire people to peddle stationary bicycles with little generators to power City Hall, the jail, the zoo, etc.

[woofer]

Power is fungible. It doesn't matter from which source it came.

Actually, unless the Hydro or "renewable" sources have dedicated lines directly to the utility's substations, they'll be pulling the excess off the grid without being able to trace the sources.

Sounds like a "plausible deniablility" masquerade to me and a scam on their consumers for a "feel good" moment.

[melsec]

Exactly - there will always be a need for ‘Base Power’ and to get it you will either have to burn something or be lucky enough to have a large amount of hydro power. Isn't it amazing though that the same people who 20 years ago were complaining so bitterly about Nuclear power now seem to be very silent about it's continuing use because it is a ‘Base Power’ and is not a carbon emitter

Mel

[TYVets]

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa California Dumb.

[SECURE AMERICA]

electricity customers, will see higher power bills in the fight against climate change, he added in his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor on Wednesday

Obama and these idiots are going to suceed where the Islamofacist have failed. They are going to drive America back to the 7th century and without blowing up one single building.... Thanks assclowns.....

[Venturer]

Going broke, what do we do???

Shut down a refinery, and close a coal powered power plant.

Makes sense to California I suppose.

What the hell , it’s basically what Obama wants to do in the rest of the country.

[rawhide]

Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020...Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

...added in his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor on Wednesday.

Funny how all these politicians mandates these changes to finally come to fruition after they are out of office, letting those who follow them pick up all the pieces and deal with all the problems they themselves have created.

The same thing is going to happen with obamma and his minions, the democrats. Screw the country now with all of this added debt, with the bills coming due years down the road.

And then it will be the Republicans that will be called upon to fix it, again. The democrats messed everything up with their asinine ideas, and the Republicans have to fix everything.

[Northern Yankee]

Last one leaving California... please turn off the lights.

Oh wait... there won't be any power left to turn off the lights.

[Thermalseeker]

Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy sources...

Well, at least now when the last person leaves LA they won't have to remember to turn out the lights.....

[sphinx]

Villaraigosa could get his “renewable energy” and solve some of L.A.’s 11 percent unemployment. They city could hire people to peddle stationary bicycles with little generators to power City Hall, the jail, the zoo, etc.

Don't give him ideas.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Maybe the Constitution is a suicide pact after all.

Since electric power flows over a grid extending over the entire U.S. west of the Rockies, it is impossible to embargo or sort kilowatts by method of generation. Do they propose to disconnect from the grid or talk everyone else on the grid not to use coal?

[hoosier hick]

ECONOMIC GENIUS ALERT!!!

"We applaud Mayor Villaraigosa's bold decision to move Los Angeles beyond coal," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's efforts to end coal-fired power plants. "The decision to replace coal with cleaner energy alternatives is key to boosting job creation and economic growth."

HEADLINE: Substantially increasing the cost of living and doing business in LA will boost job creation and economic growth!!!!

hh

[EQAndyBuzz]

We an end this now. Just start filing multi-billion dollar lawsuits against the enviro-weenies in friendly courts. Make them spend money to defens themselves.

That’s how they got us to this point. We need to reverset he trend.

[carumba]

...or talk everyone else on the grid not to use coal?

Talk is cheap. They are going to convince Utah Gov. Huntsman to switch from coal to natural gas. Gets complicated because Huntsman is going to China and his successor is not convinced that global warming is the right paradigm.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Ok, let’s just criminalize coal and be done with it.

The Nazis had “race crime”, we’ll have “carbon crime”.

Makes just as much sense.