Schwarzenegger wants California to get 33% of our energy from renewable sources come 2020 — and many of us want the switch to happen even faster — but we’ve got a lot of serious challenges holding us back. For one thing, we first need to meet the 20% by 2010 goal — and the outlook on that’s rather bleak. Reports the L.A. Times:
As of 2008, Southern California Edison Co. posted 15.5%, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 11.9% and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. only 6.1%, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.
The three companies aren’t expected to hit 20% until at least 2013.
In that article — “California renewable energy goals: The devil is in the implementation” — The L.A. Times points to in-state, out-of-state issues as the main quibble:
The main argument is over how much of the new green power must be generated within California’s borders. Another point of contention is which is more expensive: in-state renewable energy or wind and solar power from facilities elsewhere in the West.
KQED’s Climate Watch: Unlocking the Grid illuminates many more challenges also facing the renewable energy mandate. Watch the program to see how scaling up renewable energy not only means battling NIMBY groups, but also answering difficult questions about preservation of natural habitats and environments, using a whole lot of resources to build out new infrastructure, and much more.
Climate Watch also shows that another major hurdle for renewable energy is figuring out how to store it. Without storage capabilities, wind and solar power’s unreliable. The producer of the episode, Sarah Kass, explains in the Quest blog that renewable energy can be stored now — but only at a very high cost.
After reading and watching these, I was left rather depressed about the complex realities of these issues, though obviously there’s a a lot to feel optimistic about. Curious to find out what the solar and wind eco-experts thought about the L.A. Times and KQED pieces, I searched for trackbacks but couldn’t find any, as of yet…. More on this later.
Photo by abraham_neben
Indeed the issue is a disheartening one. We need to start looking at renewable technology for our residential and small commercial needs. A battery has been produced that is relatively cheap and lasts for a long time in these circumstances. As for the industrial situation however we need more research because at this time its just not competitive.
Comment by interest — August 31, 2009 @ 12:56 pm