No solar for smog city

Los Angelenos narrowly reject city-wide solar plan 4

Los Angeles voters yesterday rejected the Green Energy Good Jobs ballot initiative (AKA Measure B), according unofficial results from the city clerk’s office.

The plan, which failed by about 1,000 votes, would have led to the installation of thousands of solar panels on rooftops and parking lots throughout the city. It would have required the city’s energy utility to produce 400 megawatts of solar power by 2014, but it also would have required the utility’s unionized job force to do all the work, which opponents saw as a bald power grab.

We’ve reported on the plan’s promises and perils, and on the campaigns for and against it. Stay tuned for more.

Jonathan Hiskes is a Grist staff writer. He reports, tweets, eats, asks questions, self-promotes, looks out windows, and wonders if it could be like this.

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  1. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 3:56 am
    04 Mar 2009

    Hydrogen Here ... And Nowhttp://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2009/mar/04/ir ...
    Like a B-movie zombie that claws its way back out of the grave, the "hydrogen-is-a-long-way-off" myth comes back over and over.
    Often those who spout this chestnut go to pontificate that "it will take years to build a hydrogen infrastructure."
    What a crock.
    [...]
    Those who work in the industrial gas business tell me that the amount of hydrogen already sold for non-vehicular use is so great that if hydrogen cars of many brands were already in show rooms and on the roads, it would take years before the H2 they need would make a dent in the existing commercial H2 flow.
    Instead of solar panels, LA could ELIMINATE ALL SMOG by simply mandating hydrogen cars and building the remainder of the Hydrogen Highway.
    It could also switch all its power generation to local or neighborhood Fuel Cells from companies like Fuel Cell Energy Systems...that means heat, light and transportation can now -- TODAY -- run on a fuel that creates no pollution when consumed.
    And, as above, it would add no more to greenhouse gas than is already being produced to create the current industrial supply.
    Set. Point. Match.
    Hydrogen wins...and everyone standing in its way is a denier, obstructor, foot dragger and hairy knuckler.
  2. Adam Browning's avatar

    Adam Browning Posted 10:12 am
    04 Mar 2009

    not so fastTwo things--the vote is actually too close to count, and local news outlets are reporting that final results might be awhile.
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29502060/
    Secondly, the title of this post is misleading.  I know that grist editors sometimes spice it up, but the key point is that defeat of the measure does not mean no solar in LA.  The 400 MW is one element of at 1.3 GW plan, and frankly LADWP has the authority to do whatever it wants anyway--there was really no need to put Measure B on the ballot.  Opponents to the measure were largely in favor of solar (just not this approach), so the key takeaway is that LA supports solar, and its going to happen

    Get Some Sun: http://www.votesolar.org
  3. PatW6 Posted 5:24 am
    05 Mar 2009

    Green EnergyWhat is the matter with everyone.  Isn't everyone's goal to reverse climate change.  This is the way to do something big and you let it go.  I don't get it ? Selfishness again ?
  4. georgia Posted 10:30 am
    05 Mar 2009

    Mandates?So we just mandate cars that people don't want and people can't afford?  Do the "people" get a say in the matter?  Or are the so-called smart people just going to tell us how to live?
    Then, we can mandate that every home be powered with a fuel cell.

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