Lenny:
I originally thought the same thing you did, and perhaps the article is written poorly, and you may be correct. My calculations were incorrect because the number of cars I used only refers to 20 projects underway, not the 80 projects that cost $515 million. So if we just take an average (i.e., assuming all projects are equal), it would cost $44,000 per vehicle. The article states that:
"The 20-plus projects under development will produce enough energy to
power about 4,900 homes and eliminate 23,000 metric tons of CO2
emissions – the equivalent of removing nearly 2,800 cars from the road
for one year. "
A typical automobile's yearly emissions can be calculated using http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05004.htm (EPA). This estimates that each vehicle emits in the range of 5.2 - 5.5 metric tons CO2e/per year. Dividing that into 23,000 would equate to about 4,300 vehicles per year. Because EPA's estimates represent a broad average, I think it is consistent.
The two questions that we don't know the answer to are: 1) what PSE&G has assumed it was offsetting — all energy is not the same in terms of GHG emissions; as we know, gas is more efficient than coal in terms of GHG emissions per unit of energy. I suppose that someone could ask PSE&G, or perhaps it was provided in a regulatory filing (because they will ask rate payers to pay); and, 2) whether the justification for the costs are for each year or only for one year.
Peter
On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:07 AM, Lenny Siegel wrote: Peter, I interpreted the article differently than you did. I thought it implied that the $515 million would reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent of removing 2,800 cars from the road EACH year. There must be someone on this list who knows how to make these calculations. Lenny Peter Strauss wrote: The most interesting statistic that I got from reading this article is that the expenditure of 1/2 billion dollars would be equivalent to removing 2,800 cars from use for one year in terms of green house gas (GHG) emissions. We have a long way to go!
Peter Strauss
On Dec 2, 2010, at 5:45 PM, Lenny Siegel wrote:
News Release
Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G)
December 1, 2010
PSE&G's Linden Solar Farm Turns a Brownfield Green
Once unusable land will be home to more than 11,000 solar panels; all PSE&G electric customers will benefit from clean electricity when solar farm is completed this year
LINDEN, N.J. PRNewswire -- Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is marking construction of its Linden Solar Farm on the doorstep of PSEG's Linden Generating Station. The 3.2-megawatt facility is one of four ground-mounted solar farms that PSE&G is developing as part of its $515 million Solar 4 All™ program. It is one of three solar farms being built on former brownfields that have been returned to a useful role.
The Linden farm is one of more than 20 solar projects that PSE&G is developing through its Solar 4 All program, with a total investment of more than $140 million that will create almost 300 jobs and provide New Jersey with 30 megawatts of solar-generated power.
...
For the entire release, see
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/psegs-linden-solar-farm-turns-a-brownfield-green-111117384.html
--
Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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-- Lenny Siegel Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight a project of the Pacific Studies Center 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 < lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org
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