offthegriddesign.org - 9/15/06-California gambles on greener energy rules

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9/15/06-California gambles on greener energy rules

Written by By FELICITY BARRINGER, NEW YORK TIMES

Friday, 15 September 2006

State hopes to be example on how to reduce emissions, consumption

SACRAMENTO - In the Rocky Mountain states and the fast-growing desert Southwest, more than 20 power plants, designed to burn coal that is plentiful and cheap, are on the drawing boards. Much of the power, their owners expected, would be destined for the people of California.

But such plants would also be among the country's most potent producers of carbon dioxide, the king of gases linked to global warming. So California has just delivered a new message to these energy suppliers: If you cannot produce power with the lowest possible emissions of these greenhouse gases, we are not interested.

"When your biggest customer says, 'I ain't buying,' you rethink," said Hal Harvey, the environment program director at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park. "When you have 38 million customers you don't have access to, you rethink. Selling to Phoenix is nice. Las Vegas is nice. But they aren't California."

California's decision to impose stringent demands on suppliers even outside its borders, broadened by the Legislature on Aug.31 and awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature, is but one example of the state's wide-ranging effort to remake its energy future.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature and the Republican governor also agreed at that time on legislation to reduce industrial carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2020, a measure that affects not only power plants but also other large producers of carbon dioxide, including oil refineries and cement plants.

The state's aim is to reduce emissions of climate-changing gases produced by burning coal, oil and gas. Other states are moving in some of the same directions, but no state is moving as aggressively on as many fronts. No state has been at it longer. No state is putting more at risk.

Last Updated ( Friday, 15 September 2006 )

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	List of recycled building products from the Ca.Integratd waste management board
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	National Renewable Energy Labratory Homepage
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