LOS ANGELES By Sophie Spencer Spencer WK#8 - Energy Planning Assignment Block A, Energy & the Environment (ENV52225) Amanda Sesser 17 Oct 2021
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1- Abstraction 2- Renewable Local Power 3- What is Renewable Local Power? 4- Renewable Local Power 5- Reliability and ResilIence 6- What is Reliability and ResilIence? 7- Reliability and ResilIence 8- Economic Considerations 9- What is Economic Considerations? 10- Economic Considerations 11- Conclusion 12- Reference
p. 3
p. 4 p. 5 p. 5 p. 6 p. 8 p. 8 p. 9 p. 11 p. 11 p. 12 p. 13 p. 14
ABSTRACTION This article draws upon the Community Energy Planning Assignment for Los Angeles. We review local renewable power, reliability and resilience (energy security), and economic considerations. We discuss in clean local power that Los Angeles needs to focus more on local ownership of energy resources. Instead of sending money out of the county or out of state, we should put our money into our local energy projects. We discuss in reliability and resilience that energy is vital to modern life. Electricity is something we can not live without. To participate in society, we need reliable energy; we must have energy security. We discuss further local resilience through economic considerations. We can decrease our reliance on transporting energy supplies and establishing our local economies through locally available resources by using local renewable energy. We conclude from the research with a common trend between all these subjects, which is infrastructure. We present the urgency of renewable energy infrastructure and the importance of reliability and resilience.
p. 4
RENEWABLE LOCAL POWER WHAT IS RENEWABLE LOCAL POWER?
The EPA reports in their Local Renewable Energy Benefits and Resources segment that “local governments can dramatically reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing or directly generating electricity from clean, renewable sources” (Environmental Protection, 2021, p.1). The universal renewable power technologies include 1] Solar (including photovoltaic, solar thermal), 2] Wind, 3] Biogas (including landfill gas/wastewater treatment digester gas, etc.), 4] Geothermal, 5] Biomass, 6] Low-impact hydroelectricity, 7] Emerging technologies: wave and tidal power. They describe that local governments can lead by example with these renewable initiatives. They can generate energy on-site, purchase green power, and or renewable energy. Using a mixture of renewable energy options can help meet local government goals. Where quality and availability of renewable resources may vary, combination strategies are recommended.
p. 5
RENEWABLE LOCAL POWER
In California, one of the last places to burn coal is Los Angeles for electricity. On March 24, 2021, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that LA is "capable of achieving 98% clean energy within the next decade and 100% by 2035" (Roth, 2021, p.1). If all goes according to calculation, Los Angeles could become one of the country's first major cities to close to dismiss fossil fuels as a power supply. This goal would meet one of President Biden's most determined climate goals. The federal research lab reports that this goal can be achieved without causing "blackouts or disrupting the economy," which is a common worry by opponents of climate action. The current plan for today and the future is clear; the NREL study commissioned by the LA found: "build solar farms, wind turbines, and batteries as fast as possible" (Roth, 2021). Roth (2021) also reported that they implement solar panels on rooftops, electric heat pumps in homes and that the population replaces their gas cars with electric cars. If the city invests in switching to renewable energy, there would be multiple benefits to fight the climate crisis and reduce air pollution from cars, trucks, power plants, and gas furnaces (Roth, 2021, p.1). As well as helping low-income neighborhoods and communities of color who systematically get more harmed.
p. 6
For Los Angeles, I want to focus more on local ownership of energy resources. Instead of sending money to another corporate energy project or "out of state ... dollars spent on local energy projects have a multiplier effect — direct and indirect — in the community" (Pahl, 2012, p.31). Creating a local development, it's something I think we should be focusing on. Pahl (2012) describes that energy generation can be scaled down to the community and at an individual level. For example, solar, wind, and small hydropower. To the community/ regional level, biomass-fueled electricity generation in some locations can be provided. He does the voice that the unfortunate solar and wind only provide intermittent power, which can be unpredictable. However, base-load power can be supplied by "small hydropower, biomass, and geothermal electricity generation" (Pahl, 2012, p.32). We do not need to create new communities; there are many ways communities and existing buildings can be retrofitted for "smart energy consumption, and even production" (Pahl, 2012, p.36). Today, people and organizations are using local energy results and changes that build local resilience. A part of the larger re-localization movement is local energy. Today this grassroots initiative movement is gaining more people to rebuild more sustainable, more selfsufficient communities, and it is an essential part of community resilience. Pahl (2012) illustrates that communities that obtain their energy from local sources are in a "stronger position than those that failed to do so" (Pahl, 2012, p.34). When frail energy supply chains begin to fail, most people's immediate concerns will be food, clothing, shelter (means to provide those essentials). Most of these can be produced with hand labor; even limited quantities of local energy will make this labor much more accessible. p. 7
RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCE WHAT IS RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCE?
Reliability and resilience in energy are about energy security. It is about making sure our energy infrastructure is up to date. To have systems already in place to be adaptable. The ability to recover quickly from crisis and complications. Today, the dependability of the US electric power system is crucial to the “nation’s economic vitality and the well-being of society” (Berkeley Lab, n.d, p.1). This reliability is being questioned; over the years, as the infrastructure has aged, we have seen more extreme weather events becoming more frequent, for example, during winter 2020 in Texas. The rest of the US got to experience this from the outside, and we quickly understood that our infrastructure was not reliable. People out of the energy realm learned about the US grid system. Because of these serious issues, to help address these risks, the Electricity Markets & Policy (EMP) organizes an “interdisciplinary research on reliability data, metrics, trends, economics, and decision making” (Berkeley Lab, n.d, p.1). The EMP’s analysis research targets reconstructing “reliability performance data and metrics” (Berkeley Lab, n.d). They evaluate the reliability trends and their economic importance, and they determine reliability to the consumers. This research is then given to the states and local utilities.
p. 8
RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCE
In the King article, they discussed how energy security is an important part of reliability and resilience. Energy is vital to “modern life, but the fossil fuels society depends on are finite and often come from regions of the world over which the U.S. has limited influence, or which suffer from political instability” (King, 2012, p.12). I have advocated for this over the weeks about how important it is to have energy security today in this society. Electricity is something we can not live without. Is that a perfect system? No. To participate in society, we need reliable energy. With this in mind, we must have energy security; it is critical to the “occupants and businesses throughout the life, and different uses, of the building or place” (King, 2012, p.12). A crucial part of resilience is infrastructure. King (2012) voices that the critical point is that “most buildings last 100 years or more,” but our neighborhoods and our people may/will last far longer (p.12). We need to operate in a mindset encompassing more than our lifespan. This creates resilience. Another critical point is that with population growth and “increased economic growth, as well as urban density in developing nations,” we will need to look at these matters closely. King voices that this will impact “market pricing and availability of traditional commodity fuels” (King, 2012, p.12). For example, local infrastructure like biomass (wood waste, etc.), “geothermal, crop fuels, and certain renewable thermal sources like cold lake water or ocean water for chilling” (King, 2012, p.12). If we have district energy infrastructure, as King points out, it will have to be “flexibility to harness, balance, and maximize” the effective use of all these different applicable fuel sources (King, 2012).
p. 9
Recently in July 2021, there was a proposal to create energy storage. This could immensely help Los Angeles’ resilience. In Los Angeles, the HyDeal LA is an action led by the Green Hydrogen Coalition to attain “at-scale green hydrogen procurement at $1.50/kilogram in the Los Angeles Basin by 2030, creating the nation’s first green hydrogen hub” (California Air, 2021, p.28). A coalition of organizations are in support; they are the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Southern California Gas, 174 Power Global, and Mitsubishi Power. The HyDeal LA is the first groundwork within HyDeal North America, a “commercialization platform which launches regional green hydrogen ecosystems across North America” (California Air, 2021, p.28). Long-duration storage technologies need further research, and in some cases, may never reach commercial viability. California’s planning department has identified that there is a need for considerable amounts of new resources. This article reports that the most scalable, reliable, and cost-effective clean technologies will transcend. Projects like HyDeal LA and others satisfied its interim target of “33 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 two years early” (California Air, 2021, p.6). Another method to resilience is to educate the population about shifting peak electric demand for air conditioning (King, 2012). Using passive heating and cooling through building and retrofitting our house and business. For example using window placement & roof overhang and heat-absorbing floors. These methods reduce the strain on the electricity system. Furthermore, as consumers increase, more electronics will be used, increasing in demand. Regional electricity grid systems will be reliable and of growing importance. The increased supply “percentages of intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar are creating balancing and capacity management challenges for independent system operators” (King, 2012, p.14). p. 10
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS WHAT IS ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS?
Economic Considerations is wrapped around economics, which is not an easy task when dealing with renewable energy and climate change. The UC press article written about Economic Considerations (Cost-Effective and Efficient Climate Policies) described how and why we need to look at the renewable energy sector with an economic lens. UC press put it nicely, since the costs of climate change policies occur over a long time, the “appropriate measure of benefits is not the current benefits but rather the present discounted value of the entire stream of benefits over many years” (Auffhammer et al., 2016, para. 13). Economically, since the pair of investments in “abatement technology” and the damage from climate change are irreversible, there is an opportunity value to waiting that should be accounted for in a “dynamic optimization framework when comparing benefits and costs” (Auffhammer et al., 2016). Complicated concepts like “social cost of carbon” arise. The social cost of carbon is when you calculate and forecast the benefits of greenhouse gas reductions. One will calculate the moment when there is global damage from one more ton of emitted carbon dioxide equivalent. Then this number is called the “social cost of carbon.” A collaboration of working groups has recently evaluated this study, and now it is currently reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences. p. 11
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
In the King article, this is another section presented. Looking at economic considerations in the local lens, we should be decreasing our reliance on transported energy supplies and establishing our local economies through locally available resources and supply diversity. A common trend between all these subjects is about infrastructure. As King (2012), illustrates that “energy infrastructure is capital intensive” (p.14). Infrastructure initiatives to use local, sustainable energies that “involve initial capital investment where the upfront capital costs of some low-or-zero-carbon energy systems can be higher than for traditional energy arrangements where the infrastructure costs have been paid off” (King, 2012, p.14). One part of this system that needs to be explored more is the high capital threshold and the stretch-out costs over a longer-term. Another part that needs to be discussed is the financial model will need to allow adequate cash to cover the different cost gaps. For example, for a residential framework, “lower-income households tend to respond to higher bills by reducing consumption, with potentially adverse impacts upon their health and well-being” (King, 2012, p.14). As King discusses, investing in district energy systems will reduce this impact and help keep the energy rates low and “more stable for consumers in the long run” (King, 2012). In the case of commercial landlords, it is crucial to determine the most suitable business model that will provide the most proper method so affordable energy can be delivered in the early stage.
p. 12
CONCLUSION In conclusion, we discussed why local, reliability & resilience energy is essential and can be implemented economically. In Los Angeles, the plan is to move towards a sustainable city. But the point there only seems like it exists in PDFs. We need this culture to exist in the city; people do not know this plan exists. Cities like NYC and SF have a strong culture, and people feel that there is an investment. People in LA are not connected to the land. People might feel this way because it is spread out, and there are not too many public spaces/ parks, which is another conversation. Many people who have a voice in this town did not grow up here and did not value it by trying to make it better. Hopefully, as the assignment discussed, these are some of the city’s steps and should be taken to better the city. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that solar and wind energy will lead America’s new generation. It makes up “76% of new generation and adding 42 gigawatts (GW) of zero-emission capacity, while coal and natural gas will dominate 2020 retirements with 85% of plant closures” (Marcacci, 2020, p.1). The EPA reported that US electricity generation from renewable energy had exceeded the call for the first time in April 2019. They have also forecasted that call generation will decline 13% during 2020 (Marcacci, 2020). With all this reporting of how well renewable energy is, the takeaway I want is that we need action now, and we need action for the future.
p. 13
REFERENCES Auffhammer, M., Lin Lawell, C.-Y. . C., Bushnell, J., Deschênes, O., & Zhang, J. (2016). Chapter 4. Economic Considerations: Cost-Effective and Efficient Climate Policies. Collabra, 2(1): 18. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.63 Berkeley Lab. (n.d.). Electricity Reliability & Resilience. Electricity Markets & Policy. https://emp.lbl.gov/research/electricity-reliability. California Air Resources Board, California Energy Commission, California Independent System Operator, California Public Utilities Commission, Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. (2021, July 30). California’s Electricity System of the Future. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ElectricitySystem-of-the-Future-7.30.21.pdf. Environmental Protection Agency. (2021, September 13). Energy Resources for State and Local Governments - Local Renewable Energy Benefits and Resources. EPA. https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/local-renewable-energy-benefits-andresources#zero. King, M. (2012). US Community Energy Planning, Development and Delivery. International District Energy Association.
p. 14
Marcacci, S. (2020, January 21). Renewable Energy Prices Hit Record Lows: How Can Utilities Benefit From Unstoppable Solar And Wind? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/01/21/renewable-energyprices-hit-record-lows-how-can-utilities-benefit-from-unstoppable-solar-andwind/?sh=59ed8e622c84. Pahl, G. (2012). Power from the People: How to organize, finance, and launch local energy projects. Chelsea Green. Roth, S. (2021, March 24). Los Angeles now has a road map for 100% renewable energy. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-0324/los-angeles-now-has-a-roadmap-for-100-renewable-energy.
p. 15