Great efforts and much work is being undertaken in LA in the fight for climate change. Simultaneously however, for over 30 years, some of the energy being used on a daily basis in houses is coming from a place where coal is burned in a furnace at the bottom of Intermountain’s 710-foot smokestack.  Between one-fifth and one-third of the city of LA’s electricity comes from there.

However, in 2025, there are plans to shut down the plant that creates very dirty fossil fuel. In the meantime, LA has other plans to assemble a natural gas-fired power plant in its stead.  Gas burns cleaner than coal but does trap heat in the atmosphere and leaks methane from pipelines.

The ultimate goal for LA is to import solar and wind power from the area too and construct a compressed air energy storage facility for renewable energy.  Given that two bills were passed last year in an attempt to reduce/eliminate emissions from buildings while offering incentives for moving to renewable electric infrastructure, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Californian Building Industry Association (CBIA) also recently found that “natural gas is seen as cheaper and more energy-efficient, whereas electricity is seen as safer and more often viewed as a clean energy source.”