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Portland Commits To 100 Percent Renewable Energy By 2050 (cnbc.com)
City of Portland and Multnomah County officials have announced this week that they are committed to 100 percent clean energy by the year 2050. "Getting our community to 100 percent renewable energy is a big goal," Ted Wheeler, City of Portland Mayor, said in a statement. "And while it is absolutely ambitious, it is a goal that we share with Nike, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Google, GM, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart. We have a responsibility to lead this effort in Oregon." CNBC reports: Multnomah County is the most populous county in Oregon. Its Chair, Deborah Kafoury, welcomed the news. "This is a pledge to our children's future,'' she said. "100 percent renewables means a future with cleaner air, a stable climate and more jobs and economic opportunity.'' Portland is among a number of U.S. cities looking to embrace renewables. Wheeler noted that tackling climate change would need to be a collaborative effort. "We don't succeed addressing climate change by government action alone,'' he said. "We need our whole community: government, businesses, organizations and households to work together to make a just transition to a 100 percent renewable future.''
The city is already next to one of the largest supplies of hydroelectric service on the country.
If they buy everyone in Washington state LED bulbs, there will be more than enough surplus to buy.
For a politician to commit to anything more than ten years in the future is meaningless. They likely won't be around to be held accountable.
Windows is a bonfire, Linux is the sun. Linux only looks smaller if you lack perspective.
Move north across the river. Washington State doesn't have income tax. Go to Costco and by cars in Oregon. Duh.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
It's going to get cold in Portland.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Cool... good for them.
As a marketing point, having a city with clean air, would be seen as really valuable in the future, especially as many cities will not bother, preferring dirty kick backs to clean air. So the cost efficiency of clean air, also can take into account, liveability and promoting health, very serious health promotion ie Portland healthy city versus Los Angeles smog cancer city. Will it attract employers who as their first priority is cheating on local and state taxes, no. Well, that is the end of that then.
The only thing clean, healthy and safe can sell is retirement for those poisoned in shitty tax haven cities. It is a sick world we live in. Nations can get away with clean, safe and healthy because why would you leave a clean, safe and healthy nation to go to some crime ridden polluted quagmire unless you are really greedy and those people make for bad employees. Local regions unfortunately can not.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Portland will have 100% renewable energy, but the roads will still be crap, and all of the schools falling apart with no extra curricular activities. And 10K homeless people will be able to get free light.
Portland. The city that works it.
Why the hell wait 33 years? Why not do this faster and sooner?
Seriously. This kinda shit in this day and age shouldn't take 33 years.
I can see it being possible, but you better believe companies like Big Oil will do everything they can to prevent it. They have deep pockets.
Germany isn't even on track to meet their 2020 commitments. The Energiewende isn't working, and while they have sunk enormous resources into replacing (some) nuclear with renewables, the carbon intensity of Germany has barely budged. The dirty little secret is that most of the "renewable" energy comes from "biomass", which is even worse than burning lignite. (so-called brown coal; essentially packed dirt.)
Centuries ago, humanity burned a lot of trees for energy, and it resulted in widespread deforestation. Returning to those times is insane. We are razing North-American forests, turning them into pellets, and shipping them overseas to Europe to burn.
Renewable advocates would have you believe that this is "green", just because it supports their ill-advised attempts to fill landscapes with highly inefficient energy farming technologies. They need something after all, because the sun sets and there are frequent and extended periods where the wind is calm. Even if this practice was carbon-neutral, it will take centuries for the destroyed habitats to be restored, if ever they can be.
It probably isn't wise to hold your breath for the next three decades, and expect a better outcome.
This is your early warning indicator to get out of taxable range of Portland.
Your moving out will also help them meet their goal!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yeah! Fuck this paradise we live in!
except, these people are trying to help. They are saying that current plans suck--you need new ones. That's a good thing.
Honestly, I'd throw fission power under the green tent because that would help a lot with base load and distribution. It won't last forever, but it will buy us some time.
The decision has already been made. The dams provide flood control for the many cities and towns below.
Big problem: I very much doubt that anyone in the Portland City government or the Multnomah County government has technical knowledge. They are making a claim that is not backed by facts, I'm guessing.
Honestly, I'd throw fission power under the green tent because that would help a lot with base load and distribution. It won't last forever, but it will buy us some time.
It'll last forever if you build breeder reactors instead of the stupid 60 year old designs.
Not much of a challenge when over 70 percent of electricity generated in Oregon is currently from renewables. The only coal plant is shutting down in 2020 and by 2050 most of the existing plants will have long been replaced.
A classic case of a bunch of politicians promising something on a timeline to expire long after they're all retired. Taking advantage of douchebag hipsters along the way - so nothing really lost there.
Seriously, Portland could do it in several years with geothermal. They are loaded with volcanos all-around the area. Easy to tap. And it is criminal that they have not.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
And others won't be near lots of hydro, but will have a massive resource of wind. Or geothermal. Or solar. Or whatever. But if they don't have resources for all of them you'll pick the one they don't have and proclaim it ruins their ability to be 100% renewables, right?
Spoken like the bridge and tunnel crowd.
Not everybody has two hours to kill each day watching cars not moving on the freeway.
Is alive in Portland.
I live across the bridge in Vancouver and work in Portlan. My typical commute is right around an hour - on transit. Driving typically cuts that to 40 minutes. My girlfriend drives to work, her drive time is usually right around 30 minutes.
But hey, spread your FUD all you like.
As we all know, here in 2017, renewables are far far cheaper than deadender 18th century fossil fuels.
This is a wise choice by the city, and should also help them in earthquake and other disaster preparedness, in that homes and office buildings and factories with solar wind and tidal can continue to operate even when the municipal grid is heavily impacted. This will allow them to turn back on critical infrastructure such as pumping systems, emergency lighting, and provide critical hospital services.
Great job, Portland!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
China literally has around 1 million electric EV cars trucks and buses.
A lot of heating and cooling is industrial and commerical. Anything built since around 2004 is built to new codes to optimize green power. Modern buildings frequently produce anywhere from 80 to 110 percent of the power they use from their own renewable sources.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
It's all hydro. Lots of big rivers in Oregon. Not a scalable solution though, the growth potential for hydro in the U.S. is about 0.
Not forever. But a lot long. Also you get an increasing amount of nastier junk that you have to deal with. But, since you're tossing it in breeder reactors you get to hide it until you end the program.