Weaning California From the Grid

Calling it " single roadmap to achieve maximum energy savings across all major groups and sectors in California," the PUC yesterday adopted the Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan.

The plan seeks to make all new residential construction zero net energy by 2020, and all new commercial construction zero net energy by 2030. (Zero net energy means a home or building would not pull power from the grid, but rather be entirely self-sufficient through the use of things like rooftop solar panesl or other generation technologies.)

In published Q&A, the PUC makes the claim that for every dollar invested in alternative energy, $2 are saved by not investing in new power plants or transmission lines, and it claims that all of the major utilities support the new plan.

California's energy crackdown [latimesblogs]