Op-ed on local renewable energy production

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and I authored an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle today that outlines steps California can take to boost significant renewable energy production, such as from wind and solar resources, from our large rooftops, highway land, aqueduct infrastructure, and other big spaces close to consumers.  These recommendations were informed by a UCLA/UC Berkeley/Attorney General’s Office workshop that we held at Berkeley in June (I blogged about the workshop here, and the white paper from the event can be downloaded here and here). Take home point: we can meet much, if not all, of our state’s short-term renewable energy needs from these big local sources without waiting years for large-scale, remote renewable facilities to come on-line.  But to make it happen, we need a stronger commitment from the state government to promote these local options.

distributed generation, renewable energy, renewable portfolio standards