It appears that our San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has decided to unilaterally embroil their constituents into the community choice energy scam, which involves purchasing clean energy from existing out-of-state sources and claiming it as one’s own. Meanwhile, on paper, the carbon emissions from the power actually produced and consumed in California magically become someone else’s responsibility, although it is unclear who that might be. In reality, the level of carbon-emissions for the Western grid remains unchanged, while the emissions from California production linger and grow ever more pervasive in the atmosphere over California.
Carbon emissions from power production can only be reduced by increasing the capacity of clean energy sources to permanently replace carbon-emitting production. Purchasing power from existing clean energy sources does not increase clean energy capacity, so there is no effect on reducing global emissions at all … anywhere. So, for the proponents of community energy to claim that this process reduces carbon emissions goes beyond deception.
As far as the current lower rates for community choice, that is only temporary. The availability of clean power in the Western grid is a limited resource and subject to the vagaries of climate and season and, as community choice programs proliferate, the demand for clean power will inevitably rise and the rates will increase accordingly. Unfortunately, community choice consumers have no regulatory protections when participating, willingly or not, in the inherent instability of the wholesale power market, so they and their communities could eventually have to pay an enormous price, as happened in Texas not too long ago. In California some disillusioned communities have already withdrawn their memberships in community choice programs.
In summary, members of the Board of Supervisors, along with some on our local city councils, have managed to commit their communities to a program that enriches private entities, exposes their communities and constituents to liability, and yet does absolutely nothing to mitigate climate change. I believe that makes them complicit in this deception, and as such I submit that those responsible should be held personally accountable when the inevitable comes to be.
Mark Henry
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 9, 2023.
How do clean energy experts classify Diablo Power?
I was accused of not knowing that 3CE “created the energy” they sell, and PG&E only transmits it. I was also accused of not knowing that instead of 2 power bills, I would only get 1 now, because 3CE is the sole power provider. Which is strange, how 3CE uses PG&E letterhead on my power bills.
Mr. Henry is 100% correct. There is NOTHING cheap, nor green, about so-called alternative energy. You want safe, plentiful energy to power your environmentally damaging electric cars and trucks for the next 50 to 100 years? Build more nuclear plants. 50 acres of 24/7/365 power, is a heck of a lot better than 300,000 acres buried beneath solar panels.
Yet, whenever you look up cost comparisons (not provided by the nuclear industry) wind & solar turns out costing 5 times LESS!
This is because, as what the comparisons have shown us, solar projects can be built in substantially less time and at a much lower cost than a single nuclear project. Even when accounting for capacity built and energy produced from a nuclear facility, large-scale solar farms remain much less expensive and quicker to bring online than nuclear power plants. And so, it is safe to assume that as governments are planning for the next century of power generation, utility-scale solar easily beats nuclear as the leading source of carbon-free power. – https://www.solarfeeds.com/mag/solar-power…
Existing nuclear is good. New nuclear will be good one day but is too expensive now. Until then, we need renewables.
Now, with that out of the way, Mr. Henry should know that 3CE’s new stated strategy is to purchase less clean energy than they used to and spend their resources on electrification subsidies to help homeowners, ag businesses, drivers and renters save money and carbon. Maybe even more importantly they are actively BUILDING new clean energy projects as fast as possible:
https://3cenergy.org/news/?title=&term=press-release
oh, and his claim that Community Choice “enriches private entities” is pure BS. It’s MORE accountable to local needs and desires than the investor owned utilities like PG&E which are truly “private entities”, unlike CCEs which are not-for-profit public entities.
Mr. Henry, Community Choice Aggregations are a money grab by local politicians. Many CCA’s claim that they deliver 100% renewable energy to their customers meters. The California grid, is described by Pacific Energy Advisors, they are the behind the scenes CCA consultants) like a large swimming pool where all types of electrons ((fossil fueled plants, solar, wind, nuclear, etc) are dumped. I follow CAISO (they control the California grid) daily. The daily average renewable energy on the California grid is in the 3o% range. Everyone that has electricity delivered to their meter only gets what the grid delivers and that consists of about only 30-40% renewables. Ask any CCA to prove they deliver more than 40% daily and you will get a deafening silence.