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GUEST OPINION

Now, more than ever, cities need to lead on climate, and Pasadena should be one of those cities.

By R.J. Haw

President-elect Trump is ready to fling open the fossil-fuel floodgates, possibly hijacking the 2015 Paris Climate Accord and reversing gains made in slowing global warming. If you want to make a difference in the other direction, join the Pasadena 100 campaign and help persuade the City of Pasadena to transition to 100% clean energy!

Pasadena 100 builds on the Sierra Club’s ReadyFor100 campaign, a campaign challenging 100 cities across the United States to commit to 100% clean energy by 2035. Some of the cities already committed to that goal are shown in the table below. More are committing all the time – a recent example is Salt Lake City, Utah.

Unfortunately Pasadena is beguiled by (fracked) natural gas. Although gas contributes to global warming, it remains attractive to the City’s utility, Pasadena Water and Power (PWP), because it is inexpensive (at least for now). So PWP’s long-term plan is to power at least 50% of the city with gas up to and beyond 2030.

Pasadena can do better than that!

Solar, wind, geothermal – all these clean, renewable energy sources are decreasing rapidly in price, as are the costs for battery energy storage (batteries are needed because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow). Wind power prices are competitive with natural gas now and solar power will be competitive within 5 years. Battery cost trends predict cost parity for storage within 8-10 years (EV lithium-ion battery price index). These figures suggest that a clean energy package will be very affordable by 2035. So for prudent, fiscal motives as well as sound environmental justifications, Pasadena should begin now to plan for a gradual, 20-year transition to 100% clean energy.

Main take-away points:

Transitioning to 100% clean energy over the next 20-years will save Pasadena lots of money by 2035. 100% clean, renewable energy will cleanup our air and water, and slow global warming.

Pasadena 100 is looking for Pasadena residents to join the campaign. The campaign’s immediate goal is to convince the City of Pasadena to commit to 100% clean energy within 20-years in its Climate Action Plan, currently being written.

Let your city council member and Mayor Tornek know that you are in favor of Pasadena transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2035 (you can find your council district here).

> If you’d like to learn more about Pasadena 100, click here and send them an email.

A long-time Sierra Club member, R.J. Haw started Pasadena 100 after learning of the Sierra Club’s national Ready for 100 campaign. Haw has also been active in the Sierra Club’s Los Angeles Beyond Coal campaign and is a co-founder of the Pasadena Foothills chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.