California is a long-standing leader in renewable, clean energy, but we are focusing on San Francisco's solar plans right now. They now have regulations for buildings and plans for the future.
Regulations
The regulations that the city have put into place are very important in stopping the climate movement. They now require any building that is less than 10 stories to be powered by solar energy/have solar panels. This is a large number of residential buildings that are now forced to move away from the disgusting dirty energy. Even though the federal government is not taking any action to stop climate change, the city is taking it into their own hands.
Plans: 2020
San Francisco is a bustling city that would be a prime target for fossil fuel industries. But San Francisco isn't going to let that happen. Their plan is to have 50% of the entire city powered by renewable, clean energy. This is greatly helped by the large number of science programs in the city, as well as the new regulations brought on by the city and the state.
Plans: 2030
San Francisco's plans do not stop at 50% renewable energy. By 2030, their goal is to have the entire city, 100%, powered by renewable, clean energy. This means that there will be only emissions from cars. As talked about on the electric cars page, electric cars become very important once you switch to renewable, clean energy. If San Francisco does that, too, they will have a zero-emissions city, and be a role model for other cities.
Similar Places
There are other places that are similar to San Francisco. Almost the entire country of Iceland is powered by renewable, clean energy (99.9%). There are other countries that have proposed 100% renewable energy, such as Sweden, which has obtained 97% renewable energy, and Norway has 98% renewable energy. Costa Rica, however, has 100% renewable energy. These places are leading the charge on climate action and are clearing a path for other countries and areas to follow suit. Cities like San Francisco are also leading the charge, with New York divesting from fossil fuels, with Aspen, Colorado, and Burlington, Vermont close to 100%. Greensburg, Kansas is powered by 100% renewable energy, not one drop of fossil fuels. These cities and countries are following the Paris Climate Accord.
Comments