CEC Takes on Bovine Climate Change

Cows contribute to climate change, but just how much is a question the California Energy Commission waded into when it boosted funding to track greenhouse gas emissions from the state?s dairies at its March 2 business meeting. A total of about $500,000 was awarded to Applied Geosolutions, UC Riverside, and the California State University at Fresno to come up with new estimates of these emissions. Dairies are a significant source of greenhouse gases, but current measurements are ?highly uncertain,? according to Chris Davis, commission spokesperson. The funds will be added to a $1.6 million pot being used to help quantify these pollutants. In other action, commissioners voted to send a letter to the city of Burbank, warning that the agency will take enforcement actions if the muni doesn?t turn over demand-forecast filings for the proposed 2005 Integrated Energy Policy Report. Issuing subpoenas and levying penalties against the muni are being considered. Complying with commission data requests appears not to be ?especially high on their priority list,? said Kevin Kennedy, IEPR program manager, of the muni. All other load-serving entities have submitted demand-forecast data, he added. ?We don?t have a problem with compliance,? said Greg Simay, Burbank Water and Power assistant general manager. According to Burbank, the muni just got the commission?s request for information on February 24 and intends to respond in two weeks. Also at the meeting, about $2.8 million was reverted to the Department of Finance for uncommitted funds from the Voluntary Load Reduction Program. This effort was run by the CEC, the California Public Utilities Commission, and other state agencies during the energy crisis, according to Percy Della, CEC spokesperson. Lastly, contracts worth a total of $10 million were awarded to boost technical support to the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program and the PIER Natural Gas program. Among other winning bidders, the University of Central Florida got a contract to test a high-performance fan for a high-efficiency air conditioner for arid climates. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency will collaborate with other government agencies to develop new digital imagery technology for studies of land use, biology, climate change, and siting analysis. Current images used for these studies are between 7 and 11 years old, according to the commission.

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CEC Takes on Bovine Climate Change

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