[Scpg] Fw: CALPIRG update - Clean Energy Solutions

[Paul Racko]

----- Original Message -----
From: <sperez at pirg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 7:48 PM
Subject: CALPIRG update - Clean Energy Solutions


> Hi,
>
> As you may know, more and more energy consumers have been wanting to
> produce their own power, called micro power, at their homes or businesses.
> Unfortunately, most micro power units in use today are powered by dirty
> fossil fuels.  But cleaner, reliable alternatives to diesel generators do
> exist and can be used by Californians to produce power without threatening
> their health.
>
> The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is currently putting together
> pollution standards for micro power in California, and the decision they
> make will affect our air quality, the public health and our energy future.
>
> Follow the link below to e-mail Board members and ask them to support
> clean renewable energy generation and move away from our over-dependence
> on dirty diesel and other fossil fuels.
>
> http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=29&id4=ES
>
>
> BACKGROUND
>
> With the threats of blackouts this summer and the rate hikes Californians
> have shouldered this year, more and more energy consumers have been
> wanting to produce their own power at their homes or businesses.  These
> forms of power production, called distributed generation or micro power,
> are good in that they allow energy consumers to have more control over
> their power production and move us away from depending on large
> centralized power plants for electricity.
>
> Unfortunately, most micro power units in use today are powered by dirty
> fossil fuels.  Diesel generators, for instance, emit numerous airborne
> pollutants, most dangerously smog-forming Nitrogen Oxides and
> cancer-causing Particulate Matter.  According to a CARB study, there are
> already an estimated 26,000 diesel generators operating across the state.
> These diesel generators are the dirtiest form of power production there
> is, producing more than 12,000 tons of smog-forming and cancer-causing
> pollution per year.  CARB studies also show that living near a
> one-megawatt diesel generator that runs only 250 hours per year (half the
> time that the South Coast Air Quality Management District allows)
> increases a person's lifetime cancer risk by 50%.
>
> Clearly, in order to protect public health, a move towards micro power by
> California consumers should not mean the proliferation of dirty fossil
> fuel units.
>
> Cleaner, reliable alternatives to diesel generators do exist and can be
> used by Californians to produce power without threatening their health.
> If we can make sure that micro power in California is clean and renewable
> instead of polluting, then the state's move to micro power will also mean
> that we are moving towards CALPIRG's goal of 20% renewables by 2010.
>
> Our new report titled "The Good, the Bad, and the Other:  Public Health
> and the Future of Distributed Generation," written by the CALPIRG
> Charitable Trust and the Coalition for Clean Air,  describes the benefits
> and drawbacks of various kinds of micro power-from zero-or near-zero
> emission technologies such as solar, wind, and fuel cells, to the
> extremely dirty diesel generators and other internal combustion engines,
> to technologies that are somewhere in between in terms of health impacts,
> such as micro-turbines.  The report makes recommendations to the
> California Air Resources Board and other public agencies to enact tough
> pollution standards for micro power technologies.
>
> The CARB is putting together pollution standards for micro power in
> California.  We want them to:
>
> * set stringent emissions based standards for all DG units operated in
> California
>
> * streamline the permitting process for clean units that meet or beat
> state or local air district standards
>
> * require that all DG units operated in California be certified or
> permitted by CARB on an air district in order to be interconnected to the
> electric grid
>
> * ensure adequate enforcement of standards and establish significant
> penalties for violation
>
> This will ensure that California consumers who want to produce their own
> power can do so with solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and other
> kinds of clean micro power which won't threaten their health.  Follow the
> link below to e-mail Board members and ask them to support clean renewable
> energy generation and move away from our over-dependence on dirty diesel
> and other fossil fuels.
>
> http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=29&id4=ES
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Susannah Churchill
> CALPIRG Energy Advocate
> http://www.CALPIRG.org
>
> P.S.  Thank you for your help on this issue - it's crucial that we have
> your support in promoting a clean energy future for California.  Another
> way you can help is by sharing this e-mail with your family and friends.
>
> ----------
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