Talk about long term goals!
Yesterday, November 24th, was a big day for Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa as he revealed his plan to make solar power a very big part of LA's energy production by the year 2020. However, there are some skeptics that are not sure that the plan is cost effective.
The mayor's pitch: within 11 years over 1,200 megawatts would be provided through solar panels, enough to satisfy about 10% of the city's consumption using completely clean and renewable energy.
"L.A. has everything to make this work," he said. "We have the sun in abundancy. We have the space. We have the largest municipal utility in the country."
However, some believe that the mayor's initiative has financial complications. The plan's assumption is that the federal government will smile down on Los Angeles as a beacon of progress and will respond with tax incentives and federal funds. That could be the case, but nobody really knows where the money's going to be when it comes time to pay for this plan and then keep it going strong.
Perhaps the mayor and his supporters are aware that the plan's financial assumptions are nebulous and are simply attempting to get exactly that sort of support by the shear audacity of the concept of clean energy for the future. It wouldn't be surprising really. This is Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, and it's all about marketing out here!