----- Forwarded message from Sherry Boschert <shaalub@yahoo.com> ----- Dear friends in Postcarbon, SF Green Party, and Prius Plus Project: Last week I attended the all-day Climate Change meeting of the Calif. Public Utilities Commission. I know someone from Prius+ was there, but in it's helpful, I thought I'd forward my notes from that meeting, below. Sherry Boschert San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association www.sfeva.org California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) En Banc on Climate Change Feb. 23, 2005 Notes for SFEVA by Sherry Boschert Up on the podium for this all-day affair were the following: Michael R. Peevey, president, CPUC CPUC Commissioners Geoffrey Brown, Dian Grueneich, and Susan Kennedy Calif. Energy Commission members James Boyd, John Geesman, and Art Rosenfeld Calif. Air Resources Board Executive Officer Catherine Witherspoon Calif. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Secretary for External Affairs Anne Baker Calif. State Resources Agency Deputy Secretary Joe Desmond Calif. State Controllers Office Deputy Controller for Investments & Corporate Governance Tony Symonds Background: Of California?s 2001 greenhouse gas emissions (including imported electricity), 42% is from transportation, 21 from electrical power production, 22% industrial, 8% commercial, residential and other sources, and 7% from agriculture and forestry. The gases are: 82% carbon dioxide; 7% nitrous oxide; 7% methane, and 4% industrial gases. Brief presentations throughout the day were followed by public comments, which were among the more interesting. There was little talk of solar power or electric vehicles until the end, but a few interesting things emerged. Here are brief summaries of all. For online slides, see http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/industry/electric/climate+change/ PRESENTATIONS: -Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Director of Innovative Solutions Judi Greenwald spoke about what the business community is doing about global climate change. She said California?s mandate is to get 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2017. -California Climate Action Registry. President Diane Wittenberg described this voluntary ?inventory? that gives companies info on their pollution. -Calpine, electric utility. CEO and President Pete Cartwright: ?We think gas is plentiful in the world and can be brought into this country at attractive prices.? -Cinergy, electric utility. V.P. of Environmental Services and Federal Affairs Bill Tyndall: He sees the U.S. energy future relying on coal (the most polluting option). -DuPont, chemical company. V.P. for Bio-based Materials John Ranieri. Talked about its $40 million Integrated Biorefinery program (half of that funded by U.S. government) to create ethanol fuel. One prototype plant up so far, so this is experimental (needed because there?s not enough corn to make enough by conventional means; the new technology uses not just the corn but stalks and the rest of the plant). -Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group (SVMG) Environmental Committee Co-chair Robert Parkhurst: Represents more than 190 companies, 250,000 jobs. Didn?t say much. Admitted that few of the companies participate in the California Climate Action Registry because of it initial cost of $100 to $100,000, depending on size of the company. A PUC commissioner ridiculed SVMG member Hewlett Packard, a company worth $800 million, for claiming that?s a barrier. -Natural Resources Defense Council. Energy Program Director Ralph Cavanagh. Noted that Calif.?s electric sector has grown 30% since 1990. He criticized reliance on conventional coal-powered electricity, but bought into Cinergy?s idea of ?clean coal? plants, also called integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC technology (an experimental, expensive, and controversial strategy, I might add). Said the CPUC has ordered a study of IGCC, and that this should include ?responsible disposal of the global warming pollution from the plant.? -Fitch Ratings, a financial rating agency. Senior Director Denise Furey. Believes there will be a federal carbon law but it?s years away. Says IGCCs are 15% more expensive than conventional coal plants and most utilities are not really considering this technology. -Ceres, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies. Director of Electric Power Programs Dan Bakal. Says that companies have a fiduciary duty to tell shareholders about their ?environmental risk.? CERES said that shareholder resolutions in 2004 calling on oil and gas companies to provide greater disclosure of their greenhouse gas emissions earned the following "yes" votes: Apache - 37% Anadarko - 28% Marathon - 28% Petro Canada - 20% Valero - 9% ExxonMobil - 9% CERES also said that 2005 will see the most shareholder resolutions ever to call for disclosing greenhouse gas emissions. Resolutions will face votes in the following companies: Autos -- Ford, GM Electric power -- Dominion Resources, FirstEnergy, Progress Energy Oil & gas -- Anadarko, Apache, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Tesoro, Unocal, Vintage Petroleum, XTO Energy Manufacturers -- Allergan, Avery Dennison, Analog Devices, Corning, Dow Chemical, Newell Rubbermaid, Nucor Financial services -- J.P. Morgan Chase, Wachovia, Wells Fargo Real estate -- Centex, Health Care Property Investors, Lennar Corp., Liberty Property Trust, Ryland Group, Simon Property Group -Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. Reported findings of an interesting study on ?Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts on California? ? see http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/34/12422 He also pointed out that the company officials at the meeting kept saying they want ?regulatory certainty,? i.e. an overall federal policy on greenhouse gas emissions instead of many state policies, yet they don?t tell you how many lobbyists they have in Washington blocking creation of any federal policy. -SBC West, a phone company. Linus Farias of the Environmental Management Group said SBC had a fleet of 10,043 ICE vehicles in 2004. -Verizon, a phone company. Has thousands of ICE vehicles in its fleet and about 100 CNG vehicles, mostly in L.A. -Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad representatives talked about using low-sulfur diesel fuel and the new ?Green Goat? and ?Green Kid? switcher locomotives that are hybrids ? running on lead acid batteries charged by on-board diesel generators. -San Diego Gas & Electric, publicly owned utility. Bill Reed: Will have 8% of their power from renewable sources by 2007. Believes they can reach 20% by 2010 by adding wind, geothermal, and central-station solar power. Will be adding solar PV to 15 of their buildings this year. Said it?s inappropriate that the CPUC has cut back its LEV requirements of utilities. Called for more ?advanced metering? so utility customers see time-of-use differences in cost. -Southern California Edison, investor-owned utility. Bob Foster: Says SCE buys 1/6 of the nation?s renewable energy. Urged the CPUC to continue to support nuclear power. Said he drives a company EV every day and that SCE has ?lots? of EVs. SCE is working with CalStart and the U.S. Army to develop a hybrid line truck for the utility by end of the year. Would like to see more central-station solar installations (even more than rooftop solar), which would lead to massive production of PV panels and drive down costs. Says SCE will meet the goal of 20% renewable power by 2010, mainly by adding more wind power. But SCE wants ?offramps? (a way to abandon renewable energy) if costs get too high. -Pacific Gas & Electric, investor-owned utility. Roger Peters, senior v.p. and general counsel. ?There is no coal in our long-term plan.? Doesn?t know if PG&E can commit to 20% renewable power by 2010, but is aiming for it. COMMENTS: CEC?s Commissioner Geesman said the governor wants to increase the goal for renewable power from 20% in 2010 to 33% by 2020. CPUC Chairman Peevey made a comment ridiculing EVs and could really use some education on the subject. Perhaps the EAA should invite him for a ride in an EV. He?s at: 415-703-3703. Or online comments can be made at: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/forms/feedback.htm I spoke and made the following points: - Rather than cutting back LEV requirements of utilities, the PUC should be requiring them to use ZEVs. - As in Britain, utilities should be required to have kiosk-style charging by credit card on each utility property around the state, for $1/hour or whatever, which would promote EV use. - More advanced metering and more central-station solar are good ideas. - The PUC should do more to promote rooftop solar. As in Germany, they could require utilities to pay above-market prices for excess solar electricity generated by rooftop systems. Right now, Calif. utilities pay nothing for this, so there?s no incentive for energy-efficient households to add solar PV. - Existing off-peak electricity plus EVs could power more than a third of Calif. driving and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. - PV + EV is a winning combination for energy suppliers, drivers, and the environment. - Since CARB and the auto companies eviscerated the ZEV mandate, a myth has developed that no one wants EVs. I explained how this is auto-company propaganda, cited the 25,000 EVs and NEVs still registered, and told them of the actions to save the Th!nks, Ranger EVs, and EV1s. - Urged them not to spend a penny more supporting the myth of hydrogen fuel cell cars. This is a stalling tactic by car companies to avoid having to make any real change. CARB?s Witherspoon said CARB is aiming for 18% market penetration by HEVs by 2006-2007. Said they didn?t abandon EVs but decided they weren?t right for the market. A Sierra Club representative cautioned against more investment in natural gas because LNG leakage adds to greenhouse gases. A guy from a company involved in NiMH batteries talked about the potential benefits of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Gail Slocum, senior advisor to CalCars, talked up the Prius Plus Project and called on the CPUC to convene a working group to coordinate efforts toward PHEVs. A guy from a solar PV company talked about the benefits of thin-film solar rooftops. (And he owns/drives a RAV4 EV.) The Vote Solar Initiative?s J.P. Ross hopes to see 3,000 MW of new solar power in the next 10 years through the Million Solar Rooftops initiative. Flaks for the coal industry and Fortune 500 companies spoke without really saying anything. One of the Commissioners asked how much using an EV might increase his electrical bill. One of the public speakers emailed the response below? This e-mail is an attempt to answer Commissioner Brown's question on what effect the cost of charging a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) would have on his utility bill during the recent CPUC Climate Change en Banc. I have also included some comparative information on CO2 emissions. I hope this helps. (See attached chart) The main assumptions used to produce the values in the chart below are: 1. The average cost of gasoline over the next year will be approximately $2.50/gallon. 2. The Time of Use (TOU) rate for nighttime charging is approximately $0.05/kWh. 3. Burning a gallon of gasoline produces approximately 23 lbs of CO2 * This dollar amount comes close to answering Commissioner Brown?s question about the cost of charging a PHEV by plugging in at home at night. Please compare the $60 cost with filling up at a gas station to go the same distance. * This column includes upstream CO2 emissions for exploration, extraction, transport, refining and distribution of gasoline, as well as CO2 emissions from power plants in California. Experts suggest that in order to stabilize Climate Change the US population must reduce its total CO2 emissions to below 2? tons/person/year. Even this low number of 2? tons assumes that most developing countries will keep their CO2 emissions below 1? tons/person/year. As California?s renewable portfolio standard is implemented, in state, CO2 emissions from the production of electricity can be reduced and if PHEVs or EVs are charged from solar, wind or micro hydro, emissions can approach zero. Steve Heckeroth ECD/Ovonics Phone: 707-937-3385 FAX: 707-937-0338 steve@renewables.com __________________________________ Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc@sfgreens.org) http://www.dolorespark.org/