Clean Energy Alternatives

 A California energy commission committee is urging the state to reject a proposal to build a new natural gas plant in Ventura County.
Officials in Oxnard, along with state lawmakers who represent the area, have called for clean energy alternatives to the plant.  Residents flooded the energy commission with hundreds of emails for days throughout the summer, pressing regulators to reject the project.
Edison claims that the natural gas plant is required to provide electricity for approximately 130,000 homes.
In August, the California independent system operator (Cal-ISO), which manages the state’s electric grid, released a 46-page report detailing how clean energy sources could serve as alternatives to building the natural gas plant.
The Cal-ISO study said that the alternatives would cost more than the gas facility. The study said the natural gas plant’s cost would be $299 million while the three clean energy alternatives would cost $309 million to $1.1 billion.
With the recent approval of the new Newhall Ranch home development, Santa Clarita residents should ask themselves “Where will the electricity for all these new homes and commercial industrial developments come from? “
When Southern California Edison approaches Santa Clarita to build a new natural gas plant what will be our response?
My vote is for clean energy alternatives. This includes conservation.  The low hanging fruit of conservation is the replacement of a single speed pool pump with an energy efficient variable speed (VS) pool pump. The average VS pump conserves 8 kWh per day.  The installation of 520,000 VS pumps at a cost of $520 million would conserve the same amount of electricity as the proposed Oxnard’s natural gas plant.  Although the upfront cost is more, the VS pumps give off zero pollution and have no ongoing generation cost.
Will Santa Clarita go old-school or push for clean energy alternatives?
For more information, call 661-263-7503 or visit www.poolsbyben.com.