U.S. utility urges national action on global warming
ROSEMEAD, California, US, 2004-12-15 Refocus Weekly
One of the largest electric utilities in the United States wants a national program to reduce GHG emissions that is based on renewable energy.
Greenhouse gas emissions are a “likely contributor” to global warming,
Edison International told energy regulators in the state of California. It wants
regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders to develop “comprehensive
national programs” to address global warming and reduce emissions, primarily
carbon dioxide.
“A deliberate and coordinated effort is needed to reduce GHG emissions across
the entire energy sector,” says chairman John Bryson. “Neither GHG emissions
nor electricity stop at state borders. We believe the broader view can lead to a
new national policy on global warming.”
Recently, governors in California, Oregon and Washington recommended action to
address the impact of global warming on the economies and public health in
western states. Edison says the proposed policy initiatives of the governors
would apply to all GHG emitting sectors and do not focus only on investor-owned
utilities.
Policies to reduce GHG emissions should be based on a “comprehensive
consideration of renewable energy and low carbon-emitting technologies, energy
conservation and energy efficiency programs, conventional generation, and new
carbon-dioxide emission-removal technologies,” it suggests. Western states are
in an economic upswing and the prediction is for additional long-term
electricity supplies to be needed soon.
In the short term, there must be “aggressive development of renewable energy
and the implementation of energy conservation and energy-efficiency programs to
reduce GHG emissions,” while the longer term must include a “reasonable and
balanced” cap-and-trade system for reducing CO2 emissions once new removal
technology has been developed. Without CO2 removal technology, it says a
cap-and-trade system “merely forces a shift in the fuel mix for electricity
generation to higher-priced resources, raising consumer rates.”
Edison International is the parent of Southern California Edison, which obtains
20% of its electricity from wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and small hydro
sources, making it the leading purchaser of renewable energy in the United
States. Its total generation portfolio is 28,000 MW and operates in nine
countries and four regions of the U.S., with assets of $33 billion.
Edison built California's first hydroelectric plant in 1887 and, by 1899,
transmitted power to Los Angeles over the world's longest power line of 83
miles. In 1927, it drilled the first geothermal power well in the U.S. and, in
1980, was the first electric utility to make a large-scale commitment to the
development of renewables.
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