From the LEAP Campaign (Local Energy and Power)

Good morning everyone,

Ian Bowles, Massachusetts Secy. of Energy and Environmental Affairs, has written this OP/ED for today’s NY Times. I’ve included several quotes from the story. His point, as we’re learning quickly here in Marin County, CA, is that local generation of Renewable of Energy, with its distribution controlled by “Smart” (electronic) metering and distribution, coupled with deeply installed Energy Efficiency elements, funded by Municipal Bonds, and administered by local government agencies created under State Law AB117 (The Community Choice Energy Act) may well turn out to be the “Faster, Better, Cheaper” model to meet the new President’s pledge to double the supply of Renewable Electricity within 3 years.

If you’re interested in the this model for your area of the state or the country, you’ll find very good information at the following Websites:

http://marincleanenergy.info/

http://www.marincommunityenergy.org/

http://www.localpower.com/

With the new President championing Renewable Energy, and putting funding where it should be, programs like Community Choice Energy, some of which are well underway, are just the “Smart” ticket.

For more information, you can reach me at: zena12@earthlink.net

Michael Dietrick

New York Times
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Home-Grown Power
By IAN BOWLES
Published: March 6, 2009
Boston

“PRESIDENT Obama has laid out an ambitious agenda for dealing with our energy needs and climate change: he proposes to double the supply of renewable energy within three years, establish a cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions and use federal stimulus dollars to help homes, businesses and governments use energy more efficiently.”

“But as Congress translates this grand plan into legislation, lawmakers should resist calls to add an extensive and costly new transmission system that would carry electricity from remote areas like Texas, the Great Plains and Eastern Canada to places with high energy demands like Boston, Chicago and New York.”

“But there are better — and cheaper — ways to get more clean power flowing to the big cities. Renewable energy resources are found all across the country; they don’t need to be harnessed from just one place.”

“Another component of President Obama’s clean energy vision is the creation of a smarter power grid. But that has little to do with high capacity transmission lines that carry electricity in bulk over hundreds of miles. Building a “smart grid” means upgrading the local grid from a simple delivery system to an information system that can let consumers know the times when power is cheapest, thus enabling them to adjust their use to save money.”

“http://www.marincommunityenergy.org/”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/opinion/07bowles.html?th&emc=th

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“Climate Change is not just another issue in this complicated world of proliferating issues. It is the issue that, unchecked, will swamp all other issues.” (Ross Gelbspan—The Heat Is On)