California's New Target: Carbon-Free Electricity by 2045!

California’s electricity grid is headed for zero emissions.  In a ceremony on September 10, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 100, setting a 100 percent clean electricity goal for the state by 2045. 

Brown simultaneously issued an executive order establishing a target for carbon neutrality statewide – also to be achieved by 2045.  The state’s strategy is to continue reducing carbon pollution while increasing carbon sequestration in forests, soils and other natural landscapes.  Improved air quality and public health outcomes are also to be incorporated into any new policies and programs.

The new legislation preceded the Global Climate Action Summit last week in San Francisco, and comes on the heals of the state’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment (find Central Coast Section here).

Source: California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment: California’s Changing Climate 2018

Source: California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment: California’s Changing Climate 2018

The report projects, among other things, an average annual maximum daily temperature increase of 5.6°- 8.8° by the year 2100. With increased temperatures and more extreme heat events, an increase in electricity use for cooling is expected. All the more reason to make that energy carbon-free.

For more information on California’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and boost the number of zero-emissions vehicles on the road, see the press release from the Global Climate Summit.

Ready for your home or business to be carbon-free right now? Contact us to go ZNE!