June 2nd ~ California emissions levels will drop to 80 percent below 1990 levels through technology and practices already in use, available, and some currently being developed, according to a report from the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST).  “California’s Energy Future — The View to 2050” looks a generation ahead at what it will really take to reach emissions goals.  The report demonstrates the ability of cutting-edge technology to make lower emissions a reality.  
 
By 2050, California’s population will rise to 55 million and meeting emissions reductions goals for fossil fuel use outlined by executive order S-3-05 of 2005 will depend on an almost 90 percent decrease in per capita emissions.  The report acknowledges that aggressive new efficiency measures could reduce the demand for electricity by about a third, and for fuel by half, while incentives to electrify transportation and heat production would increase the requirement for electricity, but cut fuel demand by yet another third.  Yet even with these measures, the report finds that by 2050, California would need about twice as much electricity as we use today and still nearly 70 percent of the fuel consumed today.
 
The report finds that the technology necessary to do more with less – the ability to produce the electricity and fuel California needs with a total reduction in harmful emissions – is either already in use or in demonstration and close to being market ready.   The report examines a suite of emission-free technologies, including the everyday as well as exotic, such as: stringent energy-efficiency standards for buildings and industry; electric vehicles; electric heat pumps; nuclear, solar and wind power; biofuels; carbon capture and storage for fossil fuel electric generation and; eliminating emissions from hydrogen production.  
 
The positive economic benefit and job creation opportunities stemming from the use of technologies described in the report will maintain California’s competitive edge.  The state is already an international leader in the development of breakthrough, game-changing technology that could dramatically change outcomes, especially beyond 2050.  California currently leads the world in developing fuel from sunlight and in the prospect of using fusion to produce safe energy without resulting in a large problem with nuclear waste.
 
The CCST is a nonpartisan, impartial, nonprofit created in 1988 by a unanimous vote of the California Legislature. It is designed to offer expert advice to the state government and to recommend solutions on science and technology-related policy issues. The CCST is governed by a board of directors composed of representatives from its sponsoring academic institutions, from the corporate and business community, as well as from the philanthropic community.
 
The two-year report “California’s Energy Future — The View to 2050” was funded by the California Energy Commission, the S.D. Bechtel Foundation and the California Air Resources Board and completed by committee of volunteers from major energy research institutions in the state.  

The full report is available at http://www.ccst.us