In a single year, the Mirant Power Plant spews out 247,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases. This gives it the proud title of San Francisco's Biggest Emissions Producer and makes it a stain on the city's desired reputation as America's Greenest City. So it's somewhat surprisingly then, that yesterday, when the Board of Supervisors met to vote on financing smaller, less-polluting power plants, they postponed the vote— for the second week in a row. So what gives? The delay was requested by Supe Sean Elsbernd, who is suggesting that the board consider other options. The "greenest" alternate plan involves closing the Mirant plant and implementing solar programs and new conservation standards to make up for the loss of dirty power; unfortunately, that plan doesn't meet federal reliability standards. The "cheapest" plan calls for the city to just close down Mirant, cross their fingers, and hope that SF doesn't see too many blackouts. Finally, the Gav-supported scheme would shut down the dirtiest generator in the power plant and retrofit the other three to run only on natural gas instead of diesel. (Hey Gav, what happened to those tidal turbines?) Debates will continue for another two weeks, at this point, what's another 9,500 metric tons of greenhouse gases?
· Power plant plan is losing its steam [Examiner]
· Greening the grid while keeping the lights on [SF Gate]
[Image via Towse]
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