Energy
Using our powers for good.
Guide to the Page
- Energy Web Map
- SoCal Energy at-a-Glance
- Energy Utilities App
- Energy Primer
- Make Power Make Sense! SoCal Utilities on The Road to Zero!
- Calculating Risk
- Flip Game: Small Utilities Battle
- Not All Power Is Created Equal
- Flip Game: Hydrogen Gets Fancy
- SoCal StoryMaps: "History of Oil"
- Find Out More: Further Energy Links
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.
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 to get the yellow and purple boxes down to zero.
REMEMBER: We want to AVOID greenhouse gasses.
WHAT the HECK is that? CO2e per MWH is a RATIO of how much bad carbon you are producing per hour of energy used.
Put the purple number into the EPA calculator to translate this into common terms.
Energy Primer
Energy sources and their impact and use in Southern California.
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
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! Plus, they 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 instead they use methane to get me away from Oxygen. People think I'm cool because I don't produce carbon GAS as waste. 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.
Find out more about energy at the links below: