California has committed to generate its entire electricity portfolio from renewable sources by 2045. Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed SB 100. The law makes California the second state after Hawaii to commit to going carbon-free.
The state already is close to meeting a renewable energy benchmark set in 2015 with SB 350, which required the state to increase its renewable energy portfolio to 33 percent by 2020. In 2017, about 29 percent of the state’s electricity came from renewable sources. Another climate law – SB 32 – requires California to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 203.
The new law includes progressive benchmarks on the way to 100 percent renewable energy – 50 percent by 2025 and 60 percent by 2030.
The move came in advance of San Francisco hosting the Global Climate Action Summit in mid-September, in which environmentalists and business executives from all over the world met to set action on ways to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.
This Quick Read was submitted by Greg Zimmerman, executive editor, Building Operating Management. Read his cover story profiling John Chadwick of Arlington (Va.) Public Schools.
