Comments

1
Almost green. Those dams are not free of environmental consequence. But in general, yes to this post.
2
Thank you, Catalina!
3
@1 True, but City Light has done a great job restoring habitat to the Skagit River, which now boasts the highest returns of wild Chinook, steelhead, and chum of any Puget Sound river.
4
Are you calling hydro green? I thought that was against the Liberal code of Conduct.
5
@1 you can make it 99.8% green by buying Green Up at the $12 a month level like I do, or buy part of the Seattle Aquarium solar facility (which might cut your bill)
6
PSE - making all kinds of $$ for Canadian retirees
7
Is this an annual post? I have links on my computer to the Fuel Mix results for 2012, 2011, and 2010. XD

FYI, since 2010, nuclear is down by a third, coal by two-thirds, and wind has doubled.
8
@ 3, that's seriously great news.
9
too bad their customer service sucks so bad. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with one of their guys once, all that time telling me he could do what I needed him to do but he didn't want to. Part of the reason I'm so frigging glad to be out of the apartment business - Seattle City Light and their horrible horrible customer service.
10
Having a long-term hydro contract doesn't make Seattle's electricity use greener. The hydroelectricity that's out there is going to get produced and sold. If Seattle didn't have that contract, it would get more of its electricity from coal, and some other utility would buy the hydro and get a little less of its electricity from coal. The same amount of carbon goes out into the atmosphere. Similarly, Seattle residents should not think that there is no carbon cost to their using electricity. Turn off that light, and the hydropower that Seattle doesn't use will get sold elsewhere, displacing carbon-producing power at that other location. Turning off a light in Seattle saves just as much carbon as turning a light off in Phoenix. OK, there are what the economists would call "higher-order effects" that make the above statement not perfectly accurate. But if you think that your electricity use is 99% carbon free you are way wrong and that misconception could cause you to make non-green choices.
11
@10: And so the green choice for my electricity in Seattle is...what?
12
Government works very well when it's allowed to.

In 1969 we put two men on the moon for god's sake.
Then there's the interstate freeway system, the air traffic control system, the Panama Canal, the Sault Locks, The Saint Lawrence Seaway, Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, the TVA, the BPA, the national park system, the Oakland Bay Bridge, The Golden Gate Bridge, BART, MARTA, the trans-continental railway, the food for peace program, defeating the nazi's, NOAA, The Public School System, The I-90 bridge, ect, ect, ect...
13
Hydro and nuclear don't count as green. Nuclear waste may be small in volume but it's about as dirty as you can get and there isn't a single place in the country willing or able to store it long term. And of course hydro is hard on the fisheries on which our ecosystems rely. So yeah, congrats Seattle city light?
14
Here's something cool going on with offgrid energy in Washington State...a group of three entrepreneurs created a Hydrogen House on a remote island in the San Juans, Stuart Island.

Off-Grid Solar-Hydrogen System Powers Washington State Island Vacation Home

Friend is an MD PhD who in the 1990s founded Rosetta Inpharmatics, a Seattle biotech company specializing in novel technology for testing anti-cancer drugs. He sold Rosetta to Merck in 2001 where he is now a senior vice president, based in Philadelphia. He started the Stuart project in 2004 with two other island dwellers, Jason Lerner, owner of Waldron Power and Light Co., who builds alternative energy systems in the San Juan Islands, and Charles Delahunt, an experienced builder and constructor who is in charge of the project’s hydrogen systems as well as the website.

[...]

“We wanted to show that solar energy is a viable energy source even if it is intermittent on a remote island IF you have a way to convert it into a storable energy source,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Hence the electrolyzers, the 500 gallon H2 storage tank and the ReliOn fuel cell.



http://www.hfcletter.com/issues/XXII_9/s…

Here is the project website, diagramming the mini-grid where it converts solar, to hydrogen, for use in fuel cells. Batteries are included as they are described as "petty cash" or instant power.

Stuart Island Energy Initiative
http://www.siei.org/mainpage.html

Might be worth a visit up there...
15
There's nothing special about City Light. They have a few hydro plants that were built 100 or so years ago, and they charge way too much for the electricity from them seeing as how they don't have to spend anything for fuel. And thanks to McGinn, they're going to jack up their rates by 25% in the next few years. That's not government that works.
16

#14 (cont'd)

And with nearly 90% of power generated by hydro -- Washington could be a leader in clean hydrogen production for fuel cell vehicles.

We could be running all our transporation vehicles with our own home grown clean fuel.

And that includes:

Cars
Trucks
Motobikes and cycles
Forklifts and industrial
Marine
Locomotive (yes there are hydrogen locomotives)

There is no reason for our state not to be a leader in Hydrogen Technology.

We have some doing work in the field like at PNN Labs...but not as many as we should!

17
@10. Educate yourself first. City Light owns its hydro facilities and they also get a share of the BPA hydro power. And they invest in a lot of energy efficiency because the City policy is to meet all load growth with energy efficiency and new renewables.

When the market is right they can and do sell on the wholesale market to California, which wants clean energy to meet its regulations. So, Seattle rate payers benefit with the extra revenue that comes from selling that power.

Finally, City Light doesn't stop at clean energy; the utility includes all of its GHG emissions in its carbon footprint analysis; it buys certified offsets for those emissions it can't avoid (for example, diesel fuel used by its trucks). And it still manages to offer low rates - and affordable energy bills. The electricity used in Seattle really is zero net GHG emissions.

18
What an odd, pleasant little world Cody/Noicins/Unbrainwashed lives in, where you can build a dam and never have to do anything to it after that. It just runs itself!

But for the record, the Skagit project was built between 1921 and 1961, with the big chunks coming in 1936, (when Diablo went on-line) 1953 (when high Ross was completed) and 1961 (when the original 1921 wooden Gorge Dam was replaced by a modern cement dam).

The biggest of all of the City Light dams, the Boundary Project on the Pend Oreille, first started generating in 1967. Tolt came on-line sometime in the 90's.

So while Diablo is no spring chicken, it's hardly a century old. The dam at Cedar Falls is more than 100, but strictly speaking, that's the water department's baby.

By the way, all of the Skagit Project is certified as Low Impact by the Low Impact Hydro institute. It has been for quite a few years.
19
@10: Exactly. As I've pointed out before, if you turn off an A/C unit in Seattle, you can now send that power to power an A/C unit in California. Electricity is fungible. And if that A/C unit is not turned off, then the A/C unit in California will probably be powered by coal. In effect, your energy is only as green as the entire distribution system. And the effects of efficient use of power in Seattle is almost as important as it is in California or elsewhere on the grid.
20
Which is why, delirian dear, City Light has a very active Conservation program. In addition to the usual light bulb and appliance rebate programs, they do a lot of work with contractors on new construction and retrofits.

You also will see in the residential rate structure, a system where you pay a higher rate for more consumption. This is the inverse of many utilities, where the more you use, the less you pay.
21
@15

You're right, it's totally cost free to operate hydro electric facilities once they're over 50 years old.
22
and when we use our super green electricity to build airplanes, boy oh boy! we're super green there.

building airplanes that generate tons of bad stuff for climate change.

but hey other people buy them, so we're still pure!

self congratulations continue?
that's what it's all about, right?
23
#22

We're fixing that too with energy efficient composites, and this...

Boeing’s hydrogen-powered drone makes first flight
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/boeing…
24
haven't read the discsussion here yet (looking forward to, just swamped at the moment), but need to chime in to big up city light. great great great organization/business/model for the rest of the damn world. keep on kickin' ass city light.
25
Then there's Seattle Public Utilities...the opposite story.
26
@15 Hey, way to talk totally out of your ass. As Catalina @18 points out, City Light's extensive hydro portfolio is the result of decades of planning and investment. But you couldn't care less about facts, could you?
27
@11, @17, @20
Sorry if it sounded like I was knocking City Light. By all accounts it is a great outfit. Boulder is trying to set up a municipal utility, if we can wrest control of our grid from the corporate monopoly, Xcel. (Xcel is fighting back, hard and dirty.) If we succeed, our fondest hope is that our newborn municipal utility will eventually be as green and generally as well run as City Light. But @19 is correct. Or, to answer @11's question, the green choice for your electricity use is always to use less of it. If you happen to have you own personal windmill in your backyard, that's a very green thing, and good on you. But given that you have a windmill in your backyard, the green choice for your own personal household electricity use is still to use less electricity and sell more of your windmill's surplus power into the grid. When you make a choice to use electricity or not use it, you are making a choice "on the margin". Around the country, there's no more hydro to be built to meet your demand. On the margin, electricity is mostly dirty, although that is gradually changing.
28
@15, power service isn't free: dams require maintenance and staff to perform that maintenance. Big storms such as the one this weekend require staff to be on call around the clock to swiftly respond to power outages. The rate increases going into effect are largely to cover the costs of a new substation in South Lake Union, because there's been such an increase in demand for electric power there, with Amazon's new buildings and all the new multifamily going in as well. This is the first substation construction project City Light has undertaken in 30 years. Once the rate increases have taken effect, City Light will still offer one of the lowest electric rates in the country. You can read more about the strategic plan and the new substation project here: http://www.seattle.gov/light/strategic-p…
29
@15, power service isn't free: dams require maintenance and staff to perform that maintenance. Big storms such as the one this weekend require staff to be on call around the clock to swiftly respond to power outages. The rate increases going into effect are largely to cover the costs of a new substation in South Lake Union, because there's been such an increase in demand for electric power there, with Amazon's new buildings and all the new multifamily going in as well. This is the first substation construction project City Light has undertaken in 30 years. Once the rate increases have taken effect, City Light will still offer one of the lowest electric rates in the country. You can read more about the strategic plan and the new substation project here: http://www.seattle.gov/light/strategic-p…
30
#29

Dams do require maintenance and management as I found our when visiting the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington (something I recommend everyone here do).

For example, the water has to be managed so that the dam does not over flow. At the same time, the cannot release too much water to fast or it will flood the lakes and rivers. Or too little and it will hurt the salmon run.

Yet, one thing that would benefit everyone is to convert ever last drop of excess dam energy to hydrogen. Any water that is being "released" without being put into the grid. Or in a case when energy rates are low or in a case when they may not be needed and generators would be not in use -- that same excess capacity could be generating hydrogen.

This energy, stored for later use, then buffers the dam, and also means it could be used to route down to the PSE grid to make it less coal dependent.
31
PSE uses coal because it owns coal plants: a big one somewhere in Wester Montana (I think) and they may still own a chunk of that plant in Centralia, which City Light divested itself of due to ratepayer activism.

That's one of the things that, as a ratepayer, I really appreciate about City Light - through its history, it has responded to the concerns of ratepayers. Customer activism is what got it out of WPPSS, out of the proposed nuclear plant on Kiket Island, out of the proposed Copper Creek Dam, out of Centralia, into Conservation, etc.
32
@31 Absolutely! And I would argue that it is because City Light is responsible to ratepayers that it delivers cleaner, cheaper energy than PSE, which is merely responsible to shareholders.
33
#31

They wanted to decommission that Centralia plant entirely during the Gregoire administration, but she fought for retaining it (to preserve jobs). Now there's a compromise to convert it to natural gas by 2025.

I read that the Centralia plant responsible for something like 50% of all air pollution in Washington State!!

Phase-out for Washington’s biggest polluter

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitic…

34
@30: From an environmental point of view, there's no point in converting hydro electricity into hydrogen. Water behind a dam is already the most efficient energy storage system we have, by miles and miles The total power generated by a hydro plant in a year is limited by the amount of rainfall, not the amount of turbines available. The jargon is, hydro is "dispatchable", in the way that wind and solar aren't. If there is surplus hydroelectric capacity, the greenest thing you can do with it is to sell it to a utility that can at least temporarily then shut down a coal-fired plant. This is a nearly 100% efficient displacement of carbon emission. Turning the surplus electricity into hydrogen, and then using that to displace petroleum use, incurs a lot of losses. As long as there is a single coal-fired plant anywhere on the western net, there is no greener use for surplus hydro power than to displace that coal plant's production. Once all the coal is displaced, then you could talk about converting hydro into hydrogen as a green idea.
35
Eric dear, I have been following Boulder's efforts to form their own muni with interest. City Light struggled with PSE for decades over control of Seattle, and it was only resolved in the early 50's by public referendum. It was a very close vote, which needed a recount, because the trolls of the day were afraid of communism, and WA state had recently been put through the wringer by the Canwell committee.

36

Turning the surplus electricity into hydrogen, and then using that to displace petroleum use, incurs a lot of losses.


I was waiting for the liars and trolls to show up.

Took about 3 posts.

Maybe that government shutdown is having an unintended effect.
37
@36, well I suppose it depends on one's definition of "a lot", but there is certainly energy loss in 1) making the hydrogen and 2) running the fuel cell. It's certainly more efficient than a gasoline powered internal combustion engine for moving an automobile around, but it's no free lunch.

Plus, the idea that we could build enough carbon-clean power plants (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal) to generate all the kW to move all the cars and trucks around is...profoundly optimistic.
38

#37

Wind Power Makes Hydrogen for German Gas Grid

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/r…

39
@35: Thanks for the interesting history, Ms. Catalina. It's weird, a lot of people say municipal utilities are a bad idea because they'll "never be as efficient as the free market." But of course, the choice isn't between "free market" and "government", but between "state-regulated private monopoly" and "city-run public monopoly". We have a ballot initiative coming in November. Wish us luck! Mrs. fromBoulder fielded a particularly aggressive Xcel-funded push poll on the phone last night. "Now that we've explained to you that you will freeze in the dark, do you still support a municipal utility?"

@36: Um, what? I would think hydrogen production would make a lot more sense as a way of soaking up excess wind-, not hydro-produced electricity, since already some wind power is being just straight thrown out, but that's just one lying troll's opinion.

For several posts in a row, covering just over four hours, you pretty much kept your shit together, Supreme, coming across as a regular person, rather than as an internet character. That was cool.
40
City Light is truly one of our greatest local treasures, a utility owned by the people - so rare nowadays. I'm continually in fear that they'll sell it and privatize it.
41
Seattle City Light is a mess. The infrastructure speaks volumes. Yet they pat themselves on the back because we are beneficiaries of cheap hydro power that was built on federal programs almost a century ago! Stop complimenting yourself Seattle City Light.
42
Which infrastructure is speaking, and what is it saying to you?

43
Seattle City Light is the City Council's piggy bank; that is, SCL's customers. The rates are cheap because the government in the 30s created this thing called the BPA, which sells power at cost to municipalities. Said municipalities take their cut, whatever they want, and pass it onto the customer. So, for example, if the city needs to raise its debt capacity in order to pay for general obligation bonds for an NBA arean that doesn't pencil out, the city can raise electicity rates to make up the difference. The neat thing about this is that you don't have to tell anyone about this in advance, as long as shill bloggers stay in line and don't report it.
44
@38: Indeed. But, all gas lines leak, so there's still energy loss there. Also 1W of wind energy does not get turned into 1W of hydrogen fuel cell energy.

Still, rural Washingtonians find wind farms too disturbing.
45
#28, a 25% citywide rate increase to build one substation? Wow, you're quite the gullible tool. Yes, you have to maintain the plant. But the fuel is FREE. Our rates are barely lower than privately owned electric utilities in Texas and Oklahoma that have to maintain their equipment, build new substations to accommodate growth, AND pay for fuel.

#43, yes there's the piggy bank aspect for sure. You can hide a lot of corruption when you have FREE fuel and charge an average rate of nearly 9 cents per kWh, pushed through a poorly maintained, unreliable distribution network. Not to mention selling "surplus" FREE hydro power while turning right around and paying astronomical prices for power generated by foreign-owned windmills bought under sweetheart contracts. City Light does have RELATIVELY low rates, but it should: the power is FREE.

Catalina Vel-DuRay, the shill for this setup who when challenged will call everyone else a troll, is by her own admission someone who was fired by her private employer and fell back into a job at City Light. Which is pretty much how anyone gets hired there. It's all connections and corruption, soon to cost a whopping 25% more for a creaky power grid that pays NOTHING for its power, except when it CHOOSES to kick back huge sums to foreign windmill owners.

Nice work if you can get it. If I were Catalina, I'd spend my time shilling for my sugar daddy too. But the fact remains that City Light pays NOTHING for its fuel, and "sells" its "excess" for a fraction of what it costs to replace with hyper-expensive wind power generated by private entities not even owned by Americans. This is a "public utility?" Better think again. It's more like a private prison contractor, and it's constantly increasing its purchases of that expensive, foreign-owned, privately generated power.
46
#44, the whole windmill thing is just one more example of city people willing to wreck far-away places for their own convenience. It's typical for Seattle, which likes to tout its environmental credentials while turning a blind eye to the consequences.
47
Cue Catalina, that sweet taxpayer parasite, calling me names in ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
48
@47: Perhaps your next Slog persona can be TheWichitaLineman.
49
How 'bout cutting to the chase and calling myself Glenn Campbell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTfwcLdP5…
50
@49: I like it!
51
Oh Cody/Noicons/Unbrainwashed. Always such a grumpy pants. Yes, I was fired. Let go! Kicked to the curb! Whatever you want to call it. But it was the best possible termination - nice severance, stock options, etc. A classic dot com send off. And I'm still friends with the woman who fired me. She had worked at PSE, and gave me an excellent reference with City Light.

While it's sweet of you to be concerned for me, I already have a sugar daddy. Mr. Vel-DuRay and I have been together for twelve years now. He makes enough money that I really don't have to work, but I like what I do, so I stay.

And while your understanding of utility operations - indeed, business in general - is most charitably described as naive, I do admire your passion. Just think of what you could do if you actually had any idea of what you were talking about.....

52
Ah, not only a fallback from your prior failure in the private sector, but a sort of junior league noblesse oblige gift to our city. I'm so grateful, as are we all. I think it's kinda hot. Rodeo stars like me have always had a thing for sorority gals like you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIRTtn_Z…
53
Yes dear, just give me a cashmere sweater set and an add-a-bead necklace, and that's me to a T!

And while I'm touched that you fancy me, I'm sure I'm much too old for you. Plus, as the old song says, and in keeping with the theme we've developed, "That Don't Impress Me Much"

http://youtu.be/mqFLXayD6e8
54
Oh my God! It's like Slog! The musical!
The young couple meets cute in the comments and naturally hate each other at first post, but as they spar though song, Catalina's icey upper crust heart begins to melt! By act three, after many comical mishaps, they share a soaring duet locked in each other's Internet arms!
I can't wait for the twist ending.

::goes to make popcorn::
55
Yes, it's just like a Slog version of "In The Good Old Summertime", except I'm a parasitical government worker who could never love a man who didn't understand the basics of utility operations, let alone the history and role of the BPA.
56
Catalina, my attitude toward older women is like Benjamin Franklin's. He observed the women tend to age from the face down, and that the older they get, the more grateful they are. Want to swap pictures?

http://i.imgur.com/SSeAt.jpg

I understand you sorority gals like horses. I can put a cashmere blanket on her if you'd like.
57
Cody, since you showed me yours, I suppose I am obliged to show you mine. Just call me the last of the red hot mamas.....

http://images.zap2it.com/celebs/v3/AllPh…
58
Do you apply your makeup with a trowel, then?
59

Those are a lovely set of pearls Mrs. Vel-DuRay. A gift from the Mister? Don't be swayed by the vagaries of this cowpoke! Remember your vows, you happy home, your harvest gold kitchen!
60
I wreck them happy homes with my stiff ways and my long tongue. It's my specialty. I'll overlook the rubberized makeup and make you squeal for more, Cat. You'll even save on your 'lectric bill, if ya know I mean.
61
Don't you worry about me, Lissa dear. I was the Saturday night coat check girl at The Cuff for ten years. I've seen plenty of these cowpokes come and go. Most of them can't tell a horse from a chicken.
62
LOL, apparently not. :P
63
The fun part, of course, is that Catalina didn't bother to try and refute the facts about City Light. Instead, she calls anyone who disputes her a "troll" or "naive." Typical arrogant city worker. No wonder we love them so much. Anything good about Seattle exists in spite of these idiots, not because of them.
64
Cody dear, both the depth and breadth of your ignorance of what is widely available public information is beyond my level of both patience and interest. You can actually go out and do research about utility operations, or you can continue to make an ass of yourself. It's your call.

65
@64: I'll bet Cody goes for option 2. It's just a hunch I have.
66
Catalina, yer hot. I love me a nasty, arrogant city worker. Wanna meet up in the barn, like Lissa suggests?
67
No Thank you, dear. Why don't you pass the time by reading the Seattle Municipal code? Specifically, the section on City Light?

http://clerk.seattle.gov/~scripts/nph-br…

Then, you could study some of the annual reports

http://www.seattle.gov/light/aboutus/ann…

and the five year strategic plan....

http://www.seattle.gov/light/strategic-p…

perhaps stop over at BPA and see how they set the rates for the "free" fuel you like to talk about....

https://www.bpa.gov/secure/RateCase/

Then see how rates are established at City Light

http://www.seattle.gov/light/Accounts/Ra…

And begin to get a glimpse of the multi-year process it takes to just renew a federal license to operate a dam on a river....

http://www.seattle.gov/light/generation/…

OR the process to modify an existing dam.....

http://www.seattle.gov/light/g2t/

OR what it takes to construct a modern substation in the middle of some of the most valuable land in the country...

http://www.seattle.gov/light/dennysub/

Finally, take a look at who's really behind all the wind power you seem to think we are throwing money at (here's a hint: we aren't. That's PSE, dear. Blame Bellevue)

http://pse.com/aboutpse/EnergySupply/Pag…

If you can get through all of that, I think you'll understand why I consider you to be naive. But never a troll. The troll is the unregistered commenter. You at least care enough to register. Over and over and over......

68
I don't think you're enough man for Catalina, Cody Bo. And you smell a little too much like chicken shit.
69
I've met the lovely Mrs. Vel-Duray, and I can tell you it's going to take a lot more than halfwit bragging about how stiff you are to penetrate that hard exterior. And, so far from knowing how to treat a lady, I think it's very unlikely that you have ever even met one.
70
sorry, cody. catalina is more of a man than you'll ever be - and more of a woman than you'll ever get. maybe you could chat up phoebe in wallingford. bet she's willin'!
71
Oh my gosh - Cody IS a troll! I always thought he was registered. Weren't Noicons and Unbrainwashed registered?

So yes, Cody dear, you are both naive AND a troll.
72
@71: He was registered until a few hours ago. Banned again! Matt in Denver thought he'd last at least until the end of the month, but I guess the Stranger staff didn't think he was good enough for you Mrs. Vel-DuRay, and haz done run him off. :) Ah well, the course of true love never runs smooth.
73
And he took me to task for being fired. I bet he's been fired from Slog more than anyone.

Poor dear. Maybe he can get a job with the city.....
74
i might be working temp in YOUR department, Catalina, quite soon.
75
Har! Another classic escapade from the kook fringe.
76
Why Scary, how wonderful! Just don't forget who wears the blue dress, and we'll get along just fine....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co…
77
@74: that would be awesome!
@75: Oh I'm sure he'll be back. We're his Brokeback Mountain.
78
Boy did you hit the nail on the head, Lissa.

http://christwire.org/2011/05/christian-…
79
(@78 is also re: @56.)

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