CCST Project

California's Energy Future - The View to 2050

COMPLETED: January 2015

Overview

California has set itself some ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. In order to achieve these goals, the state may need to make widespread changes to the ways in which it manages energy production, storage, and consumption.

The California's Energy Future (CEF) projects explore what's needed to meet the state's goal, answering the call of S-3-05 - the executive order from 2005 mandating the reduction of the state's emissions to 80 percent below the 1990 level by 2050.

Following completion of the CEF projects, CCST began a followup series of reports, the California's Energy Future Policy project.

California's Energy Future: The View to 2050 Cover

Summary Report

updated February 2015

One-Pager

Overview

Spreadsheet

With GHG Emissions Summary Calculations

CCST Project

Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters

COMPLETED: March 2011

Overview

With rapidly emerging and evolving technologies, lawmakers at times find themselves pressed to make policy decisions on complex technologies. Smart meters are one such technology.

Smart meters are being deployed in many places in the world in an effort to create a new generation of utility service based on the concepts of a smart grid, one that is agile, efficient and cost effective.

The electricity crisis of 2000 and 2001 helped force the issue here in California, lending significant urgency to the need for better management of power generation and distribution. In 2006, the California Public Utilities Commission authorized the Pacific Gas and Electric Company to implement a relatively new technology, smart meters, to gather much more precise information about power usage throughout the state. The process of installing the meters throughout the state is still underway.

As with any new technology, there are unknowns involved. Smart meters generally work by transmitting information wirelessly. Some people have expressed concerns about the health effects of wireless signals, particularly as they become virtually ubiquitous. These concerns have recently been brought to the attention of state legislators, with some local municipalities opting to ban further installation of the meters in their communities.

We are pleased that Assembly Members Huffman and Monning have turned to CCST for input on this issue. It is CCST’s charge to offer independent expert advice to the state government and to recommend solutions to science and technology -‐ related policy issues. In this case, we have assembled a succinct but comprehensive overview of what is known about human exposure to wireless signals and the efficacy of the FCC safety standards for these signals. To do so, we assembled a project team that consulted with over two dozen experts and sifted through over a hundred articles and reports, providing a thorough, unbiased overview in a relatively rapid manner.

In situations where public sentiment urges policy makers to make policy decisions with potentially long — term consequences, access to the best information possible is critical. This is the role that CCST was created to fulfill.

Summary Report

CCST Project

innovate 2 innovation

COMPLETED: March 2011

Overview

California's innovation ecosystem achieved world leadership in the last century because of its system of higher education, high-talent workforce, advanced technical infrastructure, and enlightened policies. These perishable assets must always be renewed. Today this renewal is more critical than ever because of the unprecedented international competition for both California's markets and its innovation workforce, as well as its increasing capacity to be world-class innovators.

Noting the changing global landscape, in 2010, a bi-partisan group of California Legislators asked the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) to assess California's Science and Technology (S&T) Innovation Ecosystem. CCST designed a two-phase approach, with this preliminary report to coincide with the opening of the 2011 legislature and the gubernatorial transition, and a detailed set of recommendations to follow in May 2011.

In late 2010, CCST convened a series of regional roundtables with industry and research leaders across the state to seek their input on the challenges faced by California and possible solutions that could be achieved building from California's S&T capacity. From these meetings, CCST identified two key strategies essential to achieve this task:

Developing and leveraging public-private partnerships linking California's assets in education, research, technology, finance, and philanthropy to create social and technical innovations that competitors with less complete infrastructure cannot match.
Enlisting California's S&T community in finding solutions to two of the State's major challenges, education and water, and, in so doing, enhancing California's international competitiveness.

Phase I Report Vol I

updated March 2011

Phase I Report Vol II

Summary of Roundtables

CCST Project

California's Energy Future - The View to 2050

Overview

Related News Stories

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Follow-Up Reports

California’s Energy Future – Powering California with Nuclear Energy

California’s Energy Future – Transportation Energy Use in California

California’s Energy Future – Electricity from Renewable Energy and Fossil Fuels with Carbon Capture and Sequestration

California’s Energy Future – Portraits of Energy Systems for Meeting Greenhouse Gas Reduction Requirements

California’s Energy Future: Building and Industrial Efficiency

California’s Energy Future: The Potential for Biofuels

Policies for California’s Energy Future – Electricity Pricing and Electrification for Efficient Greenhouse Gas Reductions

Policies for California’s Energy Future – Scaling Up Advanced Biofuels

Policies for California’s Energy Future – Choosing a Climate Friendly Electricity System

Policies for California’s Energy Future – Electricity from Natural Gas with CO2 Capture for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Presentations

Chair’s Lecture: CEF Study Results (Jane C.S. Long)

California’s Energy Future Study (Bryan Hannegan)

California Biofuels in 2050 (Heather Youngs)

Mobile Sources in California’s Energy Future (Jeffery Greenblatt)

Nuclear Power in California’s Energy Mix (Burton Richter)

Transportation Sector Efficiency (Christopher Yang)

CCST Project

Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters

Overview

Related News Stories

The California Council on Science and Technology Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Its Establishment Via the California State Legislature

Celebrating Science Informing Policy: CCST to Partner with Governor’s Office of Planning and Research for ‘Science and Education’ Evening at Global Climate Action Summit

CCST SmartMeter Report Released

Rollin Richmond Leads Smart Meter Project Team

Explore

Areas

Contact

American Academy of Pediatrics

The Sensitivity of Children to Electromagnetic Fields – August 3, 2005

Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA)

Radiation Protection – Mobile Telephones and Health Effects – June 25, 2010

Documents from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)

Correspondence Provided by Rick Kreutzer, California Department of Health – March 10, 2011

Mixed Signals About Cellphones’ Health Risks Hang Up Research – The Chronicle – September 26, 2010

Summary of the Literature: What do we Know About Cell Phones and Health? – July 20, 2010

Brain Tumor Risk in Relation to Mobile Telephone Use: Results of the INTERPHONE International Case, Oxford University Press – March 8, 2010

Mobile Phones and Health, U.K. Department of Health

Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Towards Realism and Precaution with EMF, David Gee, European Environment Agency – January 30, 2009

Statement of Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) Concerning Mobile Phones and Health – January 7, 2009

Fact Sheet: Children and Safe Cell Phone Use, Toronto Public Health – July 2008

Children and Mobile phones: The Health of the Following Generations in Danger, Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection – April 14, 2008

AFSSE Statement on Mobile Phones and Health, French Environmental Health and Safety Agency – AFSSE – April 16, 2003

Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR)

IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR)

COMAR Technical Information Statement the IEEE Exposure Limits for Radiofrequency and Microwave Energy

Commonwealth Club of California

The Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (Video) – November 18, 2010

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

EMF/RF Program at EPRI

Radio-Frequency Exposure Levels from Smart Meters: A Case Study of One Model – February 2011

Environmental Protection Agency

EPA’s Response to Janet Newton – March 8, 2002

EPA’s Response to Jo-Anne Basile – September 16, 2002

Epidemiology

Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Cell Phone Use and Behavioral Problems in Children – July 2008 – Volume 19 – Issue 4 – pp 523-529

European Journal of Oncology – Ramazzini Institute

Non-Thermal Effects and Mechanisms of Interaction between Electromagnetic Fields and Living Matter – 2010

Federal Communications Commission

Radio Frequency Safety FAQs

RF Safety Page

Statement Provided by Robert Weller, Chief, Technical Analysis Branch, Office of Engineering and Technology, Federal Communications Commission, Regarding FCC Regulations – February 3, 2011

Federal Communications Commission Response to Cindy Sage – August 6, 2010

FFC Certifications for the Silver Spring Networks Devices

Questions and Answers about Biological Effects and Potential Hazards of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields – August 1999

Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields – August 1997

Food and Drug Administration

No Evidence Linking Cell Phone Use to Risk of Brain Tumors – May 2010

U.K. Health Protection Agency

Wi-Fi – Last Reviewed October 26, 2009

International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)

ICNIRP Statement on the “Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time-Varying Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields (up to 300 GHz)” – September 2009