The Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant’s towering infrastructure dwarfed Mayor Jerry Sanders, Councilwoman Donna Frye and other city officials who had gathered at the facility to applaud the city’s renewable energy sources on Thursday, July 13.
For the third year in a row, San Diego’s use of biogas and solar power secured this municipality one of the top spots on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership list. The city recently ranked 14 of 616 participating entities, which includes military installations, corporations and local governments.
“The EPA selected the city for the top of its Green Power Partnership list because the vast majority of the green power we use comes from our own facilities,” Sanders said.
While San Diego currently trails behind the U.S. Air Force, Whole Foods Market, Starbucks and the University of Pennsylvania in green power usage, it has surpassed FedEx Kinko’s, Staples, and the cities of Portland and Boston.
According to Tom Blair, the city’s chief energy administrator, 25 percent of the city’s current electricity usage comes from green power, more than the state mandated 20 percent by 2010, and the 8 percent currently provided by San Diego Gas & Electric.
The city uses 65,400 megawatt hours of renewable energy annually for the equivalent effect of planting 12,000 acres of trees or removing 8,000 cars from the roads, Blair said. The efforts also reduce the city’s carbon output to the atmosphere by 91 million pounds, he added.
San Diego joined the EPA’s program in 2003, two years after its inception and the California energy crisis that spurred local concern about the city’s dependence on fossil fuels. Green sources of energy include biogas, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and low-impact hydroelectricity generation.
The Point Loma plant “” which collects waste from across the county, filters it and pipes the treated water 4.5 miles out into the ocean “” might not seem all that green considering its daily operations. However, methane gas created by the 170 million gallons of organic matter it receives each day has successfully been harnessed to produce electricity that powers the plant, with the surplus going back into the SDG&E grid.
Additional energy is tapped as water falls through pipes at the hydroelectric facility.
“As gravity drives treated water from this plant toward the ocean, we capture its energy and allow it to drive a generator that produces even more energy for this plant,” Sanders said.
The combined efforts have saved the city $16 million over three years in utility costs for the plant.
Biogas is also produced at the North City Water Reclamation Plant and Miramar Landfill. The South Chollas and Arizona Street landfills are future sources of methane gas.
According to Blair, biogas provides the most renewable energy for the city, with solar power a distant second. He added that the city is committed to finding and increasing new sources and that there is now talk of increasing the statewide goal for renewable energy use to 33 percent by 2015.
When asked what obstacles prevent cities and states from surpassing that mark, Blair cited cost recovery. As more energy is produced, there must be a corresponding increase in usage, as well as the ability to source it to the demand, he said.
Frye noted that local measures in solar energy would help the city toward its goal of doubling renewable energy use by 2013.
Currently, all new city buildings must be built with solar panels, while private developers will soon be able to expedite the permitting of solar powered projects.
“The goals were set to supply our city with a stable energy supply, clean our air, help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuel generated electrical power,” Frye said, adding that the measures also save tax dollars.