CARSON, Calif. \u2014 With rising energy costs, the city of Carson is embracing change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Data from LA County shows that roughly 10% of households in Carson live below the federal poverty line
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A study by Stanford University finds that over 25 years, solar energy avoids between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per household compared to regular power
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Clean Power Alliance is working with cities across California to spearhead community solar projects\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city is working with Clean Power Alliance, a local non-profit electricity provider that is implementing new community solar projects around Southern California.<\/p>\n
CPA said solar power helps households save money on their electricity bills and helps combat climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the only solution,\u201d said Ted Bardacke, the CEO of CPA. \u201cWe also need to build stuff out in the desert, where it\u2019s super low-cost, mass economies of scale and that is going to require more transmission. So it\u2019s not like one solution is better than the other, we need to bring everything to bear on our climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
A study by Stanford University finds that over 25 years, solar energy avoids between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per household compared to regular power.<\/p>\n
The technology works differently than the standard power options available in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis power being generated here does not go back into the building,\u201d said Bardacke. \u201cWe\u2019re just using the roof space and instead it\u2019s going back into the grid and serving homes and households in the neighboring area.\u201d<\/p>\n
CPA says another benefit for communities and customers is the cost. The community solar project in Carson is helping low-income customers with their monthly electricity costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA low-income customer for whom this project is serving is going to get about between $120 and $150 a month of an electricity bill,\u201d Bardacke said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll get 20 percent off that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association says Americans will pay roughly 10.5% more for electricity this summer because of rising energy costs, and the city of Carson wanted to look at ways to help cost-burdened residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy rates were skyrocketing, and we wanted to bring something to our residence to lower the cost,\u201d said Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes. \u201cWe have a large senior population here, on a fixed-income, what better way to assist them than to provide a service that will lower their energy cost?\u201d<\/p>\n
Prewsident Donald Trump\u2019s administration has cut funding for solar projects, with roughly $15 billion being moved or canceled for clean energy projects. But in California, government officials are embracing new technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur grid is evolving, and we\u2019re using more and more clean energy,\u201d said Molly Sterkel, who is the director in the energy division at the California Public Utilities Commission. \u201cAnd we\u2019re finding that our clean energy future can be both safe, reliable, and affordable for all customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bardacke says he wants to continue to bring knowledge about solar energy to communities in need around Southern California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you put on a solar panel, you\u2019ve locked in your fuel source for a generation or two, which is right up there with the sun,\u201d he said. \u201cI see this as climate change, and for our kids, but also for right now, this is the most secure energy we can have in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARSON, Calif. \u2014 With rising energy costs, the city of Carson is embracing change.\u00a0 What You Need To…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[36621,5997,7,643,59022,131,133,132,100,13,5999,5996],"class_list":["post-387998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-app-environment","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-jas-kang","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}