Is California the world’s last best hope against climate change?

When it comes to energy, California has often been seen as the Promised Land.

Beginning with oil and hydropower in the mid-19th century, and then later with renewable energy and efficiency in the 1970s and ’80s, California has always leaped into the challenges of our energy conundrum with blindfolded gusto – and blazed trails in the process.
Despite the Golden State’s energy meltdown just seven years ago – remember the rolling blackouts, bankruptcies and the shenanigans of Enron and company? – all eyes today are again focused on California and its radical legislative agenda addressing the largest energy challenge of all: global climate change.

The passage of AB32 has earned our dear governor and state lawmakers many kudos and good press. “You might think we might be risk averse (since the energy crisis), but that never happened,” said Dan Kammen, a professor with UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. “I call it the ‘California miracle.’ We are again leading the world.”

But now as push comes to shove, large questions loom. How can California tackle such an enormously global issue as climate change, when our federal government is still in denial? Even Kammen freely acknowledged: “The hard part really is still ahead of us: How do we really implement these climate change standards?”

AB32 requires the equivalent of a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. That equates roughly to 174 million to 192 million tons of carbon. California’s utilities are already cleaner than the rest of the country, so it is our motor vehicles and buildings (as well as everyday habits) that will have to play major roles in forging solutions. There will no doubt be winners and losers. Say goodbye to the cement industry, and the state’s declining, yet still significant defense sector could also get hit hard.

San Francisco Chronicle