Energy

Using our powers for good.

Illustration of Ollie Sunbathing in front of solar panels

Guide to the Page

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Energy Web Map

From East to West--the past, present, and future of energy is embedded in Southern California's landscape.

A just transition away from fossil fuels acknowledges the harms of the past: through extraction, exploitation, pollution, and damage to local ecosystems, communities, and the earth.

Explore Southern California's energy landscape through the map below.

We need 1 million acres of land to have enough solar to power California. We think that its possible for Southern California and the Central Valley to team up for an AGRIVOLTAICS buildout. This means putting solar panels on top of farmland, bringing multiple benefits to biodiversity, farmers, crops, water, labor and food systems. Read more about agrivoltaics on the Food: Agriculture and Farmland page. More to come on this soon.

SoCal Energy at a Glance

Energy Utilities App: The Energy Transition in your Neighborhood

Retail utilities buy, generate, and sell power. Some utilities are public, some are private. Below, explore the SoCal retail utilities landscape based on the year 2022.

Utilities' biggest concerns are to meet consumer demand (power use measured in watts per hour), making power affordable, and meeting state standards for clean energy goals.

We have a lot of work to do in order to get the yellow and purple boxes down to zero.

 

AND REMEMBER:  We want to AVOID greenhouse gasses.

CO2e per MWH is a RATIO of how much bad carbon you are producing per hour of energy used.

Put the big number in purple into the EPA calculator a little further below to translate this into common terms.

Energy Numbers in Common Terms

Translate energy usage into familiar terms: households powered, gallons of gas used, cars on the road, trees in the forest. This Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency allows you to do just that. Thanks EPA! Knowing this information can help you make better decisions as a consumer to help California get to zero.

Energy Primer

Click on the resources below to find out more about different energy sources and their impact on Southern California.

The California Energy Commission and the Energy Information Authority provide extensive data and analysis of energy usage in California and the United States.

In the case of driving a car, power is the rate at which you drove (in miles per hour or kilometers per hour), and energy is the total distance you drove (in miles or kilometers).

All graphics are downloadable.

Make Power Make Sense! SoCal Utilities on The Road To Zero!

Can we just say it? Energy systems are confusing. We hope that the downloadable infographics and app below help make energy make sense!

Retail utilities are unified by our own consumption, which means consumers have a special responsibility to learn and make choices accordingly. Consumers have power and collective demand can change things for the better!

Renewables vs. Fossil Fuels: Small Utilities Battle It Out!

Only five utilities in SoCal have made NO transition away from Fossil Fuels.

And only ONE utility has a significant (80%+) reliance on renewable sources!

They are all on this list below.

Guess which small municipal utilities have the highest and lowest fossil fuel dependence in Southern California.

Small city utilities are important! Oftentimes it takes just one visionary staffer to make a difference. Small cities can demonstrate a way of thinking, and model what they are doing for others. Small is beautiful!

Bear Valley

Call In

With no use of renewables, Bear Valley Electric Services--up in the San Bernardino Mountains--is entirely dependent on fossil fuels.

Cerritos

Call In

With 0.0% renewable energy profile, the Cerritos Electric Utility is entirely dependent on fossil fuels. CEU, you can do better! 

Industry

Call In

In the heart of industrial Los Angeles, the City of Industry Public Utilities has 0.0% renewable energy profile and is entirely dependent on fossil fuels. Time to explore some options! 

Pico Rivera

SHOUT OUT!

Go Pico Rivera! 48% renewable energy with solar and wind combined have earned Pico Rivera Innovative Municipal Energy a serious shout out!

Banning

SHOUT OUT!

City of Banning Electric Utilitiy is #1 with 81% renewable energy. A 50% geothermal, 25-30% biofuel/biowaste profile carry the desert town to the head of the class! For extra credit, note that over 9% of Banning's power is from nuclear energy—not deemed a clean form of energy.

Needles

Call In

With 0.0% renewable energy profile, the desert City of Needles utility is entirely dependent on fossil fuels! Time for some wind or solar action, Needles!

Victorville

Call In

Despite being ripe for solar due to its high desert location, Victorville Municipal Utility Service remains 100% reliant on fossil fuels. C'mon Victorville! You can do better!

The Takeaway?

The Takeaway.

Most SoCal cities have at least 20-30% renewable energy sources, which makes these five with 0% renewables notable--not for calling out but for calling in. All data are from the California Utilities Commission for 2022.

Not All Power is Created Equal

Click on the images below for some energy-related things to remember.

Hydrogen Gets Fancy!

Hydrogen is an invisible gas that comes in all colors of the rainbow. Hydrogen is supposed to be a powerful source of clean energy. Well, it may be powerful, but is it really clean? Explore the spectrum below to learn about the different forms of hydrogen and their quirky personalities.

We don't really use hydrogen yet in SoCal but people talk about it all the time, which makes the various forms of hydrogen really happy!

Green

Hello! Did you know that I'm the BEST kind of hydrogen? Aren't you GREEN with envy? Like all my other colorful cousins, I go by H2. But I am WAAY better than them. Why? Because I am made from renewable energy! Water  is my ancestor, and I go through a process to separate me from the Oxygen in H20. This is called electrolising. You need clean energy to make clean energy. Always remember that clean is green!

Blue

It's true that I'm Blue, but I'm only sad sometimes. Actually, I feel pretty darn good about myself most of the time. Why? Because unlike my lesser H2 cousins, I am made with natural gas through something called "steam reforming."  That's pretty clean, right? So what if I produce a little carbon in the process? You still get me, Blue H2, out of the deal! And plus, they can use a process called Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) to shove that carbon down deep into the earth. Green always complains that CCS isn't all it's cracked up to be. Now imagine me covering my ears and saying "LALALALALA!" I'm cheaper than Green anyway.

pink

Guess what? I have an atomic personality. That is because I am made with nuclear energy! Go me! Sometimes they refer to me by different color names: red, or purple. But I like pink best. It's kind of shocking! Not that you should be nervous around me or anything...jk. Some people love me and think I'm the future. Go me!

Turquoise

I'm the new kid on the block. I'm still trying to figure out who I am. All I know is that people are throwing money at me, trying to figure out if I'm as good as I seem (no guarantees). Like Blue and Gray, I have to do with natural gas, but I instead they use methane to get me away from Oxygen. The part people think is coolest is that I don't produce carbon GAS as waste from the process. I produce carbon SOLID! This means it's stored automatically. Green seems to like me more than some of my cousins. I think if I got rid of that natural gas association, Green would like me even more.

Gray

Soooo. Blue and I are super tight. I get made pretty much the way that Blue does. I used to think it was unfair to have such a boring color name, until I realized that it means I get to slide under the radar. I'm still hydrogen, right? So what if they don't bother to capture the carbon that I produce along the way? And guess what? I get extra points because I am SUPER popular. In fact, I'm the most popular H2 around! Green is just jealous of me when he says I'm a cheap date. Just FYI.

Brown/Black

You know the stuff Santa leaves in your stocking when you're bad? Yea, it's called coal, and that's the energy that's used to make us, Brown or Black Hydrogen. I bet you didn't know that coal comes in various colors, which is why we are called Black and Brown H2. Things are pretty complicated in our world. We want coal to stay in the ground, but people keep on digging it up, in part to make us. It's super annoying. If you hear of someone doing this, please tell them to stop.

Yellow

I'm a new kid too! But I know a lot more about myself than Turquoise, because guess what? I am powered by the SUN!!! All the way from 93 million miles away, the sun is shining on me, Yellow H2! I'm super hot, in other words. I'm kinda feeling like Green and I have A LOT in common. 

White

All these so-called cousins of mine can't hold a candle to me. I'm the original, the og. I am White Hydrogen! I am the always already, the Alpha and Omega. No one needed to create me. I just...exist. In the ground. In the air. The world is my domain! Sometimes people release me from the ground, but I say, frack them! I'm my own boss, and no one can tell me what to do.

StoryMap: "The History of Oil."

A StoryMap by Pitzer College student Luca Davis explores the history and contemporary landscape of energy sourcing and output in Southern California. Also see our publication on the lithium rush--Salton Sea: Landscape of Power.