Renewable Energy

A House energy proposal that would expand domestic drilling programs is heating up the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C., and pitting two local representatives on opposite sides of the offshore-drilling debate. House members returned Tuesday from its summer break having voted on more than two dozen perfunctory bills, which set the table for the latest proposal by House Democrats to open up the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast waters from Florida to Virginia to drilling that had been closed to oil companies for more than 25 years.

DOWNTOWN — Landmark legislation aimed at boosting renewable energy production within California was approved by the Legislature during the weekend but is destined for a veto, said a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The package of energy bills includes a sweeping proposal from Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian that would force power companies to produce a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Although Krekorian claims his legislation has broad support, some utilities and cities have been uneasy about the plan, which they argue would force them to seek new sources of renewable energy within California, instead of being able to count their current out-of-state green efforts toward higher quotas.

GLENDALE ? Glendale Water & Power is using the content of a brand new website to spell out its efforts to make the city more environmentally sound, and to tout its goal of having the city running on 20% renewable energy in the next 10 years. "We've been working hard in several areas ? in energy efficiency, renewable energy and reductions in CO2 emissions," Power Management Administrator Ned Bassin said. "All of that is to benefit the environment and reduce global warming." In working toward energy efficiency, the utility company has spent about $20 million over the past several years, Bassin said.

CITY HALL — Glendale Water & Power’s renewable energy portfolio is expected to grow by 1.2% after the City Council on Tuesday authorized the utility to enter into a 20-year, $27.4-million hydroelectric deal with a Washington-based project. Glendale will join likely partners Burbank and Los Angeles in the power purchase agreement with the PacificCorp’s Tieton project, a small hydro-powered electricity-generating plant in Washington, as utilities throughout California try to keep up state mandates to increase the proportion of renewable energy in their portfolios.

Having once lived in La Cañada Flintridge for 45 years, now here in Sunland, I wish to propose this idea, both for the city of La Cañada Flintridge and hopefully everywhere on this planet. There is an Earth Day, why not an "Alternative/Renewable Energy Day" too? To this end I tried to contact our state of California officials. I've had no response but silence. So, knowing that the state of Hawaii has a vigorous alternative energy program, I wrote the governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle.

CITY HALL — Local utility officials this week fired back against an environmental advocacy group's mailer campaign targeting the use of electricity generated at coal-fired power plants. The Renewable Energy Conservation Project produced and sent the mailers, which depict ominous dark clouds looming over Glendale and Burbank and rail against their utilities for having coal-fired generators make up 38% and 42%, respectively, of their power supplies. "A dirty cloud hangs over Glendale," the mailer reads.

Rima Shah In an effort to increase its renewable energy sales, Glendale Water & Power has entered into an agreement that will allow it to buy environmentally friendly energy for resale to its customers. The contract with Southern California Public Power Authority will provide the city with up to a 3-megawatt share of the Ormat Geothermal Energy Projects in the Imperial Valley, said Ned Bassin, power management administrator with Glendale Water & Power.

CITY HALL — With strict state mandates on utilities bearing down, the city is expected to expand its renewable energy use under two multimillion-dollar wind power purchases the City Council will consider this afternoon. The council will review joint agreements with the Southern California Public Power Authority and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power for two wind power projects — the Linden Wind Energy Power Project and the Windy Point/Windy Flats Project, both in Klickitat County, Washington.

GLENDALE — Local utility managers voiced support Tuesday for a bill that would force them to produce a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. The proposed law would help speed the development of power plants and transmission lines in California that could cut down on greenhouse-gas emissions, the managers said. While many of the state’s 46 utilities are not on track to meet the proposed mandate, Burbank Water and Power and Glendale Water & Power are both expected to meet the 33% goal by 2020 because they have joined with other utilities to build green energy plants in other states and transmit that power back to the Los Angeles area, managers said.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- Glendale Community College is getting $500,000 from the city over the next three years for the construction of the Cimmarusti Science Center. The Glendale City Council approved the expenditure Tuesday night under its Public Benefit Program of Glendale Water & Power. Glendale is partnering with the college, which will incorporate state-of-the-art energy and renewable energy technologies in the building's construction.