14 DAY TRIAL // This past March 19, the Department of Water and Power in Los Angeles went public with the news that the city was to soon bid coal its farewell and turn towards more environmentally friendly sources instead.
More precisely, Los Angeles is seriously looking into the possibility of having its energy needs met with the help of renewables and natural gas alone.
Furthermore, the city wishes to do its best in promoting energy efficiency, Business Green informs us.
“The era of coal is over. Today we affirm our commitment to make Los Angeles a cleaner, greener, more sustainable city,” reads a statement issued by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“By divesting from coal and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we reduce our carbon footprint and set a precedent for the national power market,” the mayor further wished to emphasize.
In order to achieve this green-oriented goal, the city of Los Angeles must first let go of its habit of having electricity from the 2,250MW Navajo Generating Station and 1,800MW Intermountain Power Project (IPP) in Utah fed into its grid, simply because these stations are coal-fired.
Given the fact that the 2,250MW Navajo Generating Station and 1,800MW Intermountain Power Project currently provide roughly 40% of the electricity that Los Angeles needs on a daily basis, the city's turning towards clean energy instead comes as good news indeed.
“[The change] will close a chapter on our reliance on coal-fired power and allows us to focus on the new low-carbon future of Los Angeles,” argued Ronald O Nichols, the current general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
These changes in the city of Los Angeles' energy policy come shortly after the news broke that California would soon be home to the world's largest solar tower and that the US was to add 1.1GW to its clean energy capacity.