Friday, October 9, 2015

California is Committed to get 50% of its Power from Renewable Energy by 2030

In part from an AP article in LOS ANGELES Gov. Jerry Brown has committed the state to use renewable energy for half its electricity and to upgrade current buildings to double their efficiency by 2030. The Governor even tried to get the state to drop petroleum use by 50% by 2030, but that was rebuffed. It looks like most cars will be electric in the next 15 years. But some critics say this will be costly to the consumer. Oil is easily accessible and abundant and in use throughout the world. Moving over to renewable energy may take time and cost more for each consumer and businesses. The cost to produce food, energy, and transport it with half of that energy coming from renewable will make product cost more. It appears politicians and environmentalists with the implication that climate change will kill us all don’t think things through. Novel ideas are not always workable ideas. According to the associated press article the details of this plan will be up to the state's Air Resources Board, Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission. These boards are led mostly by gubernatorial appointees and have broad influence over economic life. California is primarily a natural gas state. Most of the energy that produces electricity in California comes from natural gas with additional from nuclear energy, hydroelectric, and a little coal. The cost to transition to solar, wind and biomass will have to be passed onto the consumers. This will affect the least able to afford it as well. This law will also push for energy efficient buildings and require and expansion of charging stations. It will mean more support for renewable energy facilities in Antelope Valley. These solar farms are expanding now, but more and more will like get approval. The solar farms are expanding in the city limits but up until now Los Angeles County land has not given the green light to install new solar. There is a lot of solar on LA County land, but the permit process is much slower than solar on city land. Maybe this will change LA County land owners prospects as the Gov and Legislators approve it.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

XpressWest High Speed Rail which was called DesertXpress is Beginning to Take Shape

The plan is a brainchild of Marnell Corrao Associates a privately held company and it is backed and proposed by private funds. The initial plan is to connect from Victorville in San Bernadino County to Las Vegas with a connection to Los Angeles in Palmdale, Ca. It has further proposal to connect to Phoenix Arizona, Salt Lake City, and Denver Colorado According to reports the cost of the Victorville to Las Vegas section will cost $7 billion with $1.4 Billion coming from the Federal Railroad administration. The 50 mile connection between Victorville to Palmdale is part of an agreement with the LA County Metro Transportation Authority to explore a connection to Metorlink and potentially the Cal High Speed Rail. This looks to be a parallel construction. The initial proposed route between Victorville to Las Vegas looks to run along Hwy 15.This route is largely uninhabited desert land. Most of this land is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (Federal Government) and National Park Service. The uniqueness about the initial route is that there are no proposed stops between the two cities, so it looks to be a straight shot to Vegas. Further reports indicate that the investor group has applied for a loan as of Oct 2011 for a $4.9 billion through the federal Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program. The loan and funding are far from approval as Senate and House leaders has indicated the project is a taxpayer risk. As recent as July 2013 news report indicated the loan was suspended. This essentially means denial of the loan, but the developer indicated they are proceeding without firm funding in place. The most recent report is interest from Chinese firms, but that is to build and operate the train, with no indication of Chinese funding. Thus it looks like a project under development costing billions with no firm plan in mind to accomplish it. It will most likely be part of the Presidential nomination cycle as Nevada is early on the primary list. Don’t rush to buy the land just yet.