The Energy Resource Investment Plan details a strategy to
prevent a future energy crises by meeting California’s energy
supply shortfalls through energy efficiency, conservation and
renewable generation. In total, the CPA will generate $5 billion in
revenue bond financing that will leverage over $12 billion in clean
energy investment by 2007.
“This is the largest clean energy investment plan in history,”
said Danny Kennedy, Coordinator for Greenpeace’s Clean Energy Now!
Campaign, “The CPA plans to meet the majority of projected energy
demand with conservation and energy efficiency measures that will
spawn the equivalent of five big coal-fired power plants being
supplanted by wind, biomass and solar energy. This is largely
non-polluting and is the same as taking one million cars off the
road in the next 20 years, greatly reducing our greenhouse gas
emissions.”
The CPA’s Energy resource plan acknowledges two major strengths
that the support of a government agency can provide: the agency can
act as a public broker and lead the path for other institutions to
go solar, and it can provide bulk procurement when buying for
schools, prisons and other public buildings. The plan also projects
that by installing photovoltaic cells on buildings all over sunny
California, there is up to 2400 MW of untapped, cost-effective
solar power on state facilities.
“Now we want the Los Angeles Community College District to
negotiate with the CPA low cost financing for solar installations
in schools,” said Kristin Casper, Campaigner for Greenpeace’s Clean
Energy Now! Campaign, “This is the Los Angeles Community College
District’s chance to make their campuses a model of the clean
energy future that students, faculty and citizens around the state
want to see. The Board of Trustees have no excuse but to vote YES
on solar.”
Wednesday, the Board of Trustees of
the Community Colleges will vote on a proposal to install enough
solar panels to produce electricity to supply the power needs of 25
percent of all new campus buildings being
built, as part of their billion dollar renovations program. The
Governor’s office, The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
(DWP), students, faculty and Greenpeace are all advising the school
that this plan is feasible and cost
effective.
