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By Diana Mahmud, Mayor of South Pasadena and Chair of Clean Power Alliance’s Board of Directors
On April 22nd, the world will once again come together to commemorate Earth Day, with this year’s theme being Restore our Earth. This presents a special time for all of us to reflect on how we can take personal responsibility to make a positive impact on the effects of climate change. As a lifelong public servant, Mayor of the thriving City of South Pasadena and the Board Chair of Clean Power Alliance (CPA), I would like to share how CPA is leading the way to a clean energy future and invite you to join us as we work to restore our Earth.
Many people do not realize they have the power to choose when it comes to their electricity provider and how this one simple act can make an immediate positive impact on our environment. Since becoming a locally created Joint Powers Authority in 2017, CPA has grown to represent 32 member agencies, including 30 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties as well as the unincorporated areas of both counties. In all, CPA now serves three million people and proudly provides 100% renewable energy to more customers than any other energy provider in the entire nation.
In just three years of operation, CPA has made a huge positive impact in each of the communities we serve. Since our inception, CPA customers have already avoided more than 2.1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to 455,000 automobiles being taken off the road every year, or nearly 35 million tree seedlings being planted and grown for 10 years. This large reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has gone a long way toward restoring our Earth.
CPA is a not-for-profit and as such our revenues are continuously funneled back into the many communities we serve. For instance, last year our Board of Directors approved a five-year ‘Local Programs for a Clean Energy Future’ strategic plan. This plan includes such programs as: public electric vehicle charging stations; local community solar projects; and the installation of clean energy backup systems for our municipal customers’ essential facilities, such as fire stations, emergency operations centers, and public cooling centers. These and the many other programs established within the plan are good examples of how the funds CPA customers pay go right back toward creating a fiscally sound, reliable electricity system.
The overriding advantage of CPA is that it allows an entire community to immediately zero-out its energy related greenhouse gas emissions. When a municipality chooses CPA’s 100% green power rate, it is indeed going a long way toward restoring our Earth.
While we should all be conscious about our impact on the environment, Earth Day provides the time for us to proactively act upon our many daily choices. As a southern Californian and CPA’s Board Chair, I personally invite you to join us, as CPA continues to lead the way into a greener future and the proper restoration of our Earth. I encourage you to visit cleanpoweralliance.org to become more involved today.
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