14 DAY TRIAL // Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced recently that the city would move towards gradually reducing, and eventually eliminating, the use of coal in its power plants by 2020, in a bid to combat air pollution, global warming, and climate change. This move is only the latest in a row coming from California, that state with the highest level of awareness on the issues facing the globe today, and which has recently taken a great many steps towards minimizing its footprint on nature.
The mayor, who held a speech on Wednesday when he began his second term as the LA leader, said that, at this point, there were no coal-powered electrical plants in the city, but that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) received nearly 40 percent of the power it distributed to the general public from coal power plants outside of state. In California, legislation and other factors have ensured that no such power plants exist, which makes for an even smaller carbon footprint.
“LADWP will deliver 40 percent renewable power, with the remainder coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric,” Villaraigosa said, quoted by Reuters. According to the official, the LADWP will reduce its carbon footprint by 60 percent until 2020, as opposed to 1990 levels, a much sharper decrease than the one currently struggling to make its way as bills through the Senate and the House. Coal and natural gas-fired power at this point accounts for 76 percent of the whole amount of electricity that the largest city-owned utility in the United States delivers to its 1.45 million customers.
“We applaud Mayor Villaraigosa's bold decision to move Los Angeles beyond coal. The decision to replace coal with cleaner energy alternatives is key to boosting job creation and economic growth,” the director of the Sierra Club's efforts of shutting down fossil fuel-powered electrical plants, Bruce Nilles, said after the announcement was made. He also applauded the short-term goal that Villaraigosa imposed on the LADWP, to provide 20 percent of all energy from renewable sources in 18 months.
Naturally, the official added, rates for kilowatt-hours will grow from their 12 cent-benchmark today. However, he underlined, prices will remain competitive with those practices by Southern California Edison, the company that delivers power to 4.9 million customers outside the city of Los Angeles. The company currently takes about 15.5 cents per kwh, on average.