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Bay Area Rapid Transit Will Run Trains on 100% Renewable Energy
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/bay-area-rapid-transit-will-run-on-100-renewable-energy[font face=Serif][font size=5]Bay Area Rapid Transit Will Run Trains on 100% Renewable Energy[/font]
[font size=4]The transit agency will handle procurement internally, and expects to save money in the process.[/font]
by Julian Spector
May 05, 2017
[font size=3] Several mornings a week, I leave my home in sunny Oakland, board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train and shoot underwater to work at Greentech Media's San Francisco bureau. In time, that commute to write about clean energy will be powered by clean energy as well.
The BART board of directors just passed an electrical portfolio policy that requires half of the organization's power to come from renewables by 2025, and 100 percent by 2045. That has broader implications for the region, because the electric train system consumes roughly 400,000 megawatt-hours annually -- equivalent to a small city like Alameda. And, due to a unique legislative carve-out, BART will procure this power itself.
"We're doing this to advance clean energy, but we're also doing this because we think it is cost effective," said Sustainability Director Holly Gordon, who previously led legislative and regulatory affairs at Sunrun. "We feel as though we can purchase clean energy while maintaining low and stable costs for the district as well."
BART already cuts area carbon emissions by lowering the number of single occupant automobiles sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge each morning and evening. But the all-electric trains need considerable juice to run.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]The transit agency will handle procurement internally, and expects to save money in the process.[/font]
by Julian Spector
May 05, 2017
[font size=3] Several mornings a week, I leave my home in sunny Oakland, board a Bay Area Rapid Transit train and shoot underwater to work at Greentech Media's San Francisco bureau. In time, that commute to write about clean energy will be powered by clean energy as well.
The BART board of directors just passed an electrical portfolio policy that requires half of the organization's power to come from renewables by 2025, and 100 percent by 2045. That has broader implications for the region, because the electric train system consumes roughly 400,000 megawatt-hours annually -- equivalent to a small city like Alameda. And, due to a unique legislative carve-out, BART will procure this power itself.
"We're doing this to advance clean energy, but we're also doing this because we think it is cost effective," said Sustainability Director Holly Gordon, who previously led legislative and regulatory affairs at Sunrun. "We feel as though we can purchase clean energy while maintaining low and stable costs for the district as well."
BART already cuts area carbon emissions by lowering the number of single occupant automobiles sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge each morning and evening. But the all-electric trains need considerable juice to run.
…[/font][/font]
6 replies
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