Renewable energy brings California emissions below 1990 levels

[jpak]

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2018/07/17/renewable-energy-brings-down-california-emissions-below-1990-levels/

The nuclear industry’s substantial propaganda machine has spilled much ink in claiming that renewable energy has not resulted in meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In particular, nuclear advocates have pointed to Germany, where power sector emissions and shares of coal generation have declined slowly, despite large amounts of renewable energy going online, due in part to the simultaneous nuclear shutdown.

Germany can make its own arguments for the Energiewende, which has other goals that preceded GHG reduction. However, it is not the only region that is undergoing an energy transition. The latest data from California shows a much more clear relationship between ongoing deployment of renewable energy and reduction in emissions, despite the closure of one of the state’s last nuclear power plants.

Last week the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced that the state’s GHG emissions had fallen to 429 million metric tons in 2016. This is below the 431 metric tons emitted in 1990 for the first time this century, and as such beats the state’s goal for emissions reductions four years early.

In line with previous reports, a detailed inventory by CARB shows that this was largely due to deployment of renewable energy. Overall emissions fell 18% in 2016 alone and total electric power emissions have fallen by roughly 1/3 from over 100 million tons CO2 equivalent in 2000 to less than 70 million tons in 2016.

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[BigmanPigman]

1. Where there's a will there's a way!

Regulations, restrictions and accountability made this possible. It costs CA residents a lot of $ over the years and it was not easy but we knew it was necessary.

[Kaleva]

2. That's significant for a state that has one of the largest economies in the world.

"California's economy is now the 5th-biggest in the world, and has overtaken the United Kingdom"

http://www.businessinsider.com/california-economy-ranks-5th-in-the-world-beating-the-uk-2018-5