The City of Lancaster, California has taken a historic step towards becoming one of the first “Net Zero Cities” in the world. The Lancaster City Council unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Beautiful Earth Group for the development of a partnership to establish Lancaster as a Net Zero City. Net Zero Cities produce as much energy from sustainable sources, such as solar energy, as they consume. This dramatically reduces their carbon emissions. New technologies such as energy storage, supply and demand management and the “smart grid” are used to save energy and money — all good news for consumers as prices for oil and energy continue to rise.
Lancaster, known as the “Alternative Energy Capital of the World,” is well situated to benefit from the rapid increase in solar energy investment throughout the area. Applications for more than 4,000 megawatts of generation by photovoltaic (PV) electricity plants have been received in California’s High Desert / Antelope Valley region. This provides Lancaster with a wide range of options to reduce its carbon output by using clean energy coupled with energy saving techniques in the future.
Sour Away
Lancaster‘s goal of becoming a Net Zero City will encourage global investment in the city and will fulfill Beautiful Earth’s mission to supply municipalities and businesses with clean, green energy. “This important agreement will bring new jobs, energy security and a much healthier future to all of us in the Antelope Valley,” said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris. “The Net Zero City project with Beautiful Earth Group has the potential to increase the quality of living and create thousands of new jobs focused on power conservation, systems to support the smart grid, clean energy generation, and downstream activities related to companies attracted to Lancaster for its ability to supply clean energy for their manufacturing, industrial and commercial processes.”
Pandas microbes making biofuels
