The power is in our hands

By investing in renewable energy, our state can drastically reduce its contribution to global pollution. Currently, only 9% of California's energy comes from renewable sources. Given our abundant natural resources—and our pioneering technology for harnessing them—California is a prime location for the production of renewable power. Wind, solar, geothermal and biomass-generated energy have enormous potential to cut our dependence on polluting sources while creating thousands of green-collar jobs in the growing clean energy sector.

Our clean energy work has been particularly focused in Los Angeles, one of the nation's fastest-growing clean-energy markets. We have collaborated with numerous allies and mobilized community members to spur the city's independence from coal and support investment in renewable technology.

Campaign history

CCA led the push for the City of Los Angeles to establish a target for the expansion of renewable energy—known as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)—for its Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the nation’s largest municipally-owned utility. This led to a nine-fold increase in renewable power; it also prompted the city to withdraw from plans to expand a coal power plant in Utah and to support the closure of a notoriously dirty coal plant in Nevada.

Mayor Villaraigosa has championed an even more aggressive RPS and in 2009 announced an ambitious goal: to end L.A.'s dependence on coal-powered energy and the divestiture of its coal liabilities. To do so requires a robust plan for renewables, conservation and more than 1,300 megawatts of solar energy—enough to power 845,000 homes—by 2020. CCA has mobilized hundreds of community members to testify at LADWP workshops, and we work regularly with more than a dozen organizations to develop policy recommendations for a clean energy future for Los Angeles.

Our work is coalition-based, within the context of statewide energy advocacy and cutting-edge policy in California. We have also promoted clean energy policies and projects in areas such as Burbank, Fresno, the Central Valley, Los Angeles County and Imperial County.