LA Shoots to be Coal-Free by 2020

On the cusp of flamboyant stardom to financial meltdown, some people squander on frivolous grandeur to pamper their bruised, and bleeding ego. "They splurge on a sports car, take a trip to Vegas, or become fashionholics," a psychologist friend once told me. Perhaps this is the state of LA: no doubt it is has good intentions, but considering the financial shape of California, the energy usage of this sprawling jungle of concrete roads and strip malls, this perhaps is somewhat viewed under the psychological prism previously described - an effort to "clean" one's sooty ego of both smog and foolish monetary dissipation. Good luck... I mean coal-free by 2020. Oh well, even if you get half-way there (there the link,)... enough with the Freudian blather.

Yesterday, Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced his intention to make the city entirely coal-free by 2020, and turn to clean and renewable energy instead. Inspiring? Yes. Possible? Maybe not so much.

Villaraigosa made the assertion during his second inauguration speech--and a bold assertion it is indeed. From his speech (via Going Green):

It's now time to meet the carbon challenge. Our second goal for the next four years is to put L.A. on a path to permanently break our addiction to coal. Coal currently accounts for roughly 40% of the DWP's power portfolio. Breaking the coal habit is a long term proposition demanding a long-term commitment. It's going to require investment from ratepayers.End specifics. Well, it's a nice thought, isn't it? And I wouldn't be so cynical if there seemed like there was any clear way at all it could actually happen. That LA gets 40% of its energy from coal is a pretty significant figure, especially considering there are 4 million people in the city. As Triple Pundit points out, it's extremely infeasible that LA weans itself from coal in ten years when it has such a huge (and still growing) energy demand.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides about 7000 megawatts of power for the city, and coal makes up 40 percent of that, or 2800 MW. For some perspective, the largest solar plant in the country, the as-yet-unfinished Ivanpah Solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, will provide a mere 400 MW -- and LA shouldn't count on getting all of that.So what are we to make of Villaraigosa's proclamation? Well, it's politically well-timed, with the recent passage of the climate bill still fresh in the memory. Plus, it's pretty likely he won't have to be held accountable if the target isn't hit--not too likely he'll still be in office in 2020.

- Brewskie