I have a 40′ x 5″ tall fence facing a major street. I’ve been thinking about putting up a sign encouraging people to not vote for Ted for AG. Are you interested?

Chris

From the Greenius:
Thanks Chris, but I don’t think we need to actively campaign against Ted Lieu for Attorney General and there’s certainly no reason to mess up your nice big fence. Despite the $700,000 in Ted’s campaign war chest it looks like SF District Attorney Kamala Harris has this race sewed up long before all that paper and postage gets wasted on 20th century style direct mailings. So I think termed out Ted is on his way to becoming toast. Maybe that’s why everywhere I go on the green scene someone else tells me that Ted’s staff has their panties in a bunch over what I’ve said about him. Of course, none of them has had the courage to say it to me. Or maybe they’re just too busy celebrating the great job they did on the new California budget!

Hello. My name is Rebecca Wayne and I am the District Director for Assemblymember Ted Lieu.

Assemblymember Lieu has asked me to respond to your email on his behalf and relay to you the following response.

Assemblymember Lieu is a co-author of AB 920 this year and co-authored it last year too. Mr. Lieu voted for this bill on several occasions. One of the strongest things a legislator can do to advance legislation is to co-author a bill.

If you have specific things you would like Assemblymember Lieu to do in connection with this bill, please share them with us.

With Assemblymember Lieu’s support, this bill is moving through the legislative process and is scheduled to be heard next week on July 7th in the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communication.

Thank you for your advocacy work on behalf of environmental protection and energy conservation.

–Rebecca

Rebecca Wayne
District Director
Assemblyman Ted W. Lieu, 53rd District
500 Center Street
El Segundo, CA 90245
phone: 310-615-3515
fax: 310-615-3520
email: rebecca.wayne@asm.ca.gov

Greenius:
Thanks so much for your speedy reply Rebecca. I appreciate you relaying Ted Lieu’s response for him.

I heard the current Attorney General, Jerry Brown, speak in Santa Monica on Tuesday and he didn’t have any problem publicly stating his support for feed-in tariffs. So I know how possible it is for politicians with the courage of their convictions to speak out publicly for the issues they really care about.

I’m sure you probably already know, but you could inform your readers of this little tidbit: you can contact your representative (State and Federal) at the Congress.org website. Just enter your zip code at

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress/

I wrote a little note about AB 920 that went something like this:

“Dear Government Officials,

California can prove that it’s serious about clean, renewable solar energy.

I urge you to support AB 920 (Assembly Member Huffman) to help California
reach the goals set forth in AB 32 mandating renewable energy generation.
As stated in the text of AB 920, the bill “would require the electric
utility to offer a standard contract or tariff to eligible
customer-generators that includes compensation for the value of net
surplus electricity.”

A feed-in tariff similar to the one proposed in AB 920 is the major reason
that cloud-wreathed Germany has become an unlikely leader in the race to
harness the sun’s energy. If you truly want California to shine as a
world-leader in producing clean, renewable energy, then support of AB 920
is a major step.

Let the world know California is serious about solar energy. Support AB
920!

True Regards,”

Let ‘em know Joe, let ‘em know!

Greenius:
Great comment, Shawn!
Nothing more I can add, except Thanks!”

Just this week my 3KW solar PV system (15@200W STC) started feeding the grid. The system was sized to our maximum historical demand, so there is a good chance we will have a net negative meter in some years. Had our system been built significantly larger to generate payments to us if AB920 were enacted, the excess size would have not received an LADWP rebate. Our system only made economic sense for us at the rebatable size we installed.

As long as solar PV system costs are what they are now, nobody is going to overinstall because their capital costs for the excess array size will not be paid back over the life of the panels. So, whether we personally like the German all-you-can-eat feed-in tariff or not, it is a false argument to say that AB920 will cause massively-oversized residential systems. All it will do is cause people with systems like ours to be paid honestly for what we deliver–a little better than breakeven in fat years.

Meanwhile, the CPUC argument against AB920 boils down to whining bureaucratic p*ss and moan: ‘We didn’t agree to this, so let’s put it off for a couple of years.’ They said nothing about how close we have come in the last few years in Southern California to brownouts and load shedding in peak times–exactly when solar PV is most useful.

Whether or not Ted Lieu sincerely supports AB920, it is up to the State Senate now. If enough people contact their senators about this obscure bill, it might get passed.

Greenius:
Right on, Lee. I couldn’t agree with you more.

If you read my piece about SCE and solar last week then you know that they’re not being too honest about feed-in tariffs either. Guess they’re happy with only 70,000 houses going solar as part of the million roofs project. “Aim high, land low,” must be their motto.

I continue to be proud of you and your work, Joe, and your amazing passion for the environment. I appreciate the information you share through Creative Greenius…. but I have to say, this post seemed unnecessarily harsh to me.

Nonetheless, you’ve given me a lot to think about, as always.

Kaaren

Greenius:
Well Kaaren I can appreciate your desire to be nice and unharsh, but I’m afraid we’re too far down the path of climate change to be cutting elected officials the slack you’re hoping for. Perhaps if you had read this month’s White House report on climate change impacts on the United States you’d feel differently about how “mellow” I should be to elected officials who are more worried about their professional futures then they are the future health and well being of entire generations.

And to tell you the truth, I don’t think I’m being harsh at all. Your comment reminds me of the well known anecdote about President Harry Truman. During a speech a man in the crowd shouted out, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” To which Truman replied,
“I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell!”