We Can Do This

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park has set its sights on becoming the greenest ballpark in the nation, and we’re going to do everything we can to make that happen. One of the most noticeable steps we took was the installation of 600 solar panels that give power back to PG&E’s customers in San Francisco. As of Opening Day in the 2009 season, the panels have helped to prevent over 340,800 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power nearly 5,470 homes for a day. Also, over 100 pounds of nitrogen dioxide emissions have been avoided. This is about how much pollution an average car emits over nearly 12,450 days. Another way we’re helping out the ballpark is with the installation of the Diamond Vision scoreboard, which uses 78 percent less energy than the original scoreboard. Throughout AT&T Park, PG&E has been a consultant and facilitator helping them make the operations more and more environmentally responsible. The new lighting fixtures we helped install use 36 percent less energy. Plus, the garlic fries stand that is a Giants fan favorite now uses 32 percent less natural gas, and utility costs have been reduced by over 50 percent. So while you’re cheering on the home team, you’re also cheering on the home planet.

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CFL Bulbs

The quality of light from compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) have come a long way. No longer do they have to be banished to attics, basements and storage closets. New CFLs last up to 10 times longer than regular bulbs, all while providing good quality light. Even though PG&E provides some of the cleanest energy in the nation, some of the energy we all use still emits carbon dioxide. So one of the best ways to reduce carbon dioxide is to use less power. Which is exactly what CFL bulbs do. In fact, they use about 75 percent less energy than a regular bulb. When you multiply that by 5 or 10 bulbs per house, it really adds up.

ClimateSmart™ Program

PG&E is committed to finding more ways for our customers to fight climate change, like partnering with us on our pioneering ClimateSmart™ program. The ClimateSmart program makes it easy to reduce your environmental impact. When your home or business consumes natural gas and electricity, it produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which contribute to your carbon footprint. As a ClimateSmart participant, you balance out those emissions by making a tax-deductible donation to fund GHG-capture and-reduction projects, like the conservation and restoration of redwood forests and the capture of methane gases from manure at dairy farms. The typical PG&E residential ClimateSmart customer pays less than $5 per month, with 100 percent of every dollar going directly toward projects that fight climate change. To ensure the integrity of the program, all of the ClimateSmart program's greenhouse gas reduction projects are independently verified, registered and retired with the Climate Action Reserve, a national registry working to ensure environmental benefits, integrity and transparency of emission reductions. PG&E-owned office and maintenance buildings are enrolled in the program, committing about $1.5 million in shareholder funding to ClimateSmart projects. But our commitment goes even further. PG&E also supports our customers with one of the country’s most successful energy efficiency programs, and we deliver some of the nation’s cleanest electric power while advocating for the regulation of greenhouse gases and investing in renewable energy. To learn more about the ClimateSmart program or enroll, click here.

Cow Power

PG&E has partnered with California dairies to make enough renewable energy over the next 5 years to power over 100,000 homes. And since we have more cows than any other state, there’s a world of good that can be done right here in Central California. How do cows make power? Well, they actually create manure (the average dairy cow creates about 100 lbs of manure a day). Manure naturally releases methane gas into the atmosphere. When released, methane gas is over 20 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. Which means that even if we didn’t turn methane into clean energy, it would still be in our best interest to keep it from being released into the atmosphere. So how does it work? The manure is flushed into a tank or a tented lagoon, where the manure decomposes and the methane gas bubbles off, before being captured under the cover. The gas is then pumped from the digester, then purified and compressed into PG&E’s gas pipelines. After purification, the methane gas is the same as traditional natural gas, except that it’s renewable and cleaner. PG&E then burns the gas to create power for our customers. We’re looking for more dairy farms and spreading the word as much as possible. Because the more methane we keep out of the air, the better off we’ll all be.

Habitat for Humanity®

Habitat for Humanity® has a long and outstanding history of putting roofs over families’ heads. Well, these days those roofs are coming with solar panels. We’re partnering with Habitat for Humanity International to fund the full cost of solar electric systems on every Habitat-built home in Northern and Central California. Since the program began in 2005, we’ve contributed more than $2 million to Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Northern and Central California to fund solar installations. But this program isn’t only about lowering energy bills for these families through solar technology; it’s about promoting energy literacy throughout underserved communities. We’re also helping connect income-qualified families to our free energy assistance programs. The solar panels installed on these Habitat homes generate nearly 300kWh of clean, renewable energy from sunlight each month, saving the families approximately $500 a year on energy costs. Each panel will also help avoid the release of more than 132,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over the 30-year life of the system. In addition to solar panels, we also provide Habitat affiliates with resources to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. And our employees are the biggest supporters, volunteering more than 4,500 hours over the past three years to help construct homes and install solar panels with Habitat for Humanity. So not only are we helping give back to the community, we’re giving back to the planet.

Clean Fuel Fleet

For nearly two decades, PG&E has actively worked to reduce our greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions, our dependency on fossil fuels and our operating costs by advancing alternative transportation technologies. We continue to lead the way with our own fleet of vehicles. Over the past 15 years, PG&E’s clean fuel fleet has displaced approximately 5.3 million gallons of gasoline and diesel, and helped to prevent more than 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. While there isn’t one single solution to fuel dependency and greenhouse gas challenges, PG&E views battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) as a practical and dynamic solution. We continue to test new and emerging vehicles, and are adding new electric drive vehicles to our fleet each year. This includes plans for the testing and deployment of hybrid and all-electric bucket trucks and light-duty hybrid work trucks. When it comes to high-efficiency technologies and cleaner fuels, it’s clear that the best is yet to come.

Solar Power

In the spirit of tapping into more of the sun’s energy, we’ve partnered to help build a solar park in the Mojave Desert, which will make us one of the largest solar power providers on Earth. When this park is finished, it will cover 9 square miles of the desert. And that’s just the beginning. Our current partnership with Sempra Generation is delivering roughly 23 gigawatt-hours of solar energy annually, equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve more than 3,360 residential homes. We’ve also launched a program to deliver 500 megawatts of clean solar photovoltaic (PV) power to our customers, making it one of the largest solar initiatives of its kind in the country. And looking to the future, we’ve recently partnered with BrightSource Energy, NextLight Renewable Power, and NRG Energy to ensure an increasing supply of renewable solar energy for years to come. The contract with BrightSource alone is for a record total of 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power, and is expected to produce 3,666 gigawatt-hours of power each year, equal to the annual consumption of about 530,000 average homes. And we’re also helping our customers create more solar power of their own. In fact, we’ve hooked up over 30,000 solar customers and we’re looking for more. With the help of our Solar Saturdays classes, contractors, architects, businesses and homeowners alike can learn how easy it is to start tapping into the sun. For more information, visit pge.com/solar. But the solar fun doesn’t stop there. As a continuing sponsor of the Marin County Fair, we’re helping make it the “Greenest County Fair on Earth” with a solar stage, solar-powered train rides, and in 2009 we introduced a solar carousel ride — the first of its kind at a county fair. With this much solar power, our clean energy future is looking brighter than ever.

Standby Mode

PG&E has been working with consumer groups and federal agencies to curb standby power consumption over the past decade. Our collective efforts have helped lead the way in creating energy standards for consumer appliances in California that are far lower than the federal standards. Our work in this area continues today, but in the meantime, we’d like to help our customers use less standby power too. Here’s how you can do it. 1. Turn off your power strips. Fighting standby power is as easy as turning off the power strips for your computer and entertainment centers when they aren’t in use. This keeps your printers, monitors, stereos, DVD players and TVs from using up your energy when you aren’t around. It might take a little dedication, but considering that standby mode can account for more than half of some appliances’ lifetime energy costs, it’s well worth it. 2. Buy an energy-efficient power strip. These power strips help block standby power for the peripheral appliances around your TV or computer. For example, your television would be the main appliance and when you turn it off, it will kill all power to your stereo, VCR, DVD player and cable box. Together, we can fight standby mode and eliminate wasted energy.

Wave Power

If there’s one thing we have plenty of, it’s a never-ending supply of waves. We are currently conducting research to determine the feasibility of converting wave energy into electricity, while being mindful of our main goal, which is to protect the environment. Most of the wave energy devices being considered float on the surface of the ocean and create energy from the motion of the waves as they pass. Using several different technologies, the project would be an important early step toward demonstrating the potential of this exciting new technology using California’s abundant resources. Learn more about PG&E’s WaveConnect™ program.

Wind Power

On average, we expect more than half of our energy to be generated by carbon-free and renewable sources by 2010. And since wind energy is one of the cleanest sources of energy on Earth, we’ve signed on to multiple wind power projects. Through new technology and advances in wind turbine design we’re able to use fewer turbines to create more energy, which is making wind power even more efficient and holds the promise of unlocking wind’s full potential. Our latest project, the 150 megawatt enXco Shiloh 2 Wind Project in Solano County began delivering energy to PG&E’s customers in early 2009. This project, along with the neighboring Iberdrola Shiloh 1 Wind Project, which alone powers more than 50,000 homes, takes up far less space than earlier wind farm developments. After all, what better way to cool the planet than with a little extra wind?

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