With help from Alex Nieves
POOL PARTY: California’s climate transition is coming to your swimming pool.
California is trying to electrify everything to reduce fossil fuel emissions, and it’s also trying to reduce power usage in the evenings because that’s when the state uses the most natural gas.
That’s why the California Energy Commission voted today to require residential pools to be able to shut off their electricity when the grid tells them to.
“We have a lot of pools in California,” Andrew McAllister, the commissioner in charge of the rulemaking, said in a YouTube video. “They’re wonderful. They use a lot of energy, and they waste a lot of energy.”
There are 1.25 million residential pools in California, and the new pumps are expected to reduce the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions by a half percent. Commercial and public pools are excluded for now because their pumps are bigger.
By 2033, the state could gain more than 500 megawatts of power by shutting off pool pumps — enough to power about a half million homes.
Household appliances use lots of power, and some use natural gas directly. They’ll all need to be electrified to reach net zero emissions by 2045. California is banking on “smart” electric appliances being part of the solution because they can automatically shift electricity use to daytime when there’s lots of solar power.
The CEC, which has authority over appliances’ energy use, is starting with pool pumps because they’re relatively convenient to update. Officials also anticipate consumers will be more comfortable giving up a little control over them than something like a refrigerator.
Here’s how it’ll work: Starting in September 2025, all pool pumps sold in California will have to be able to connect to the internet and operate by default from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone building a new swimming pool at home (hot tubs are excluded) or replacing their pump will have to install the new version, but will still be able to use the pump outside daytime hours.
The smart pumps cost about $70 more than regular ones, but users are expected to save $100 a month by buying power during the day, when it’s cheaper. They’ll also be able to earn money by signing up to have their pumps shut off when electricity demand is high.
Pool manufacturers asked the commission to phase in the rule over 4-5 years, instead of 2, but regulators said no. “There has been quite a bit of projection that this was coming, so I’m for now comfortable with where it’s landed,” McAllister said.
Expect pools to be the first of many consumer goods to be made more flexible. McAllister said the agency would next tackle water heaters, residential batteries and potentially electric vehicle chargers.
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CHANGEMENT CLIMATIQUE: Some California representatives go to China. Some go to France.
This week, Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa) is leading a delegation of California legislators, policy experts and environmental and business leaders on a tour of French climate initiatives. The trip is aimed at promoting technology and policy exchange around nuclear energy, low carbon farming, low carbon fuels and more.
One stop of note will be the ITER nuclear fusion project in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, the world’s largest fusion facility that is supported by 35 countries including the U.S. The delegation will also check out France’s high-speed rail system.
“I’m eager to see their progress firsthand, to better understand how California can move more quickly to reduce emissions while strengthening our workforce and maintaining affordability,” Dodd said in a statement.
GOOD FENCES: Los Angeles regulators are loosening safety rules for an urban drill site owned by an oil company that’s funding next year’s ballot initiative to allow new oil and gas wells near homes and schools.
The South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission last night approved changes to regulations it created in March requiring E&B Natural Resources Management to build a 45-foot-tall structure around a South Los Angeles oil-drilling site and run all of its equipment on electric power. Those rules drew an appeal from the company, which has contributed nearly $3 million to the November 2024 referendum.
Instead, E&B will be allowed to use trucked-in natural gas to operate microturbines at the Murphy Drill Site, which is next to homes and a convalescent hospital. The commission also dropped a requirement that the company build a 30-foot sound dampening wall, in addition to the 45-foot-tall structure.
The vote was postponed by two weeks after Commissioner Stacey Pruitt recused herself. Pruitt is an attorney for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which filed a violation against the Murphy Drill Site last year.
PETROLEUM PROCLAMATION: The Martinez City Council is striking a symbolic blow tonight against the release of coke dust from a local refinery earlier this month.
Councilmembers plan to issue a proclamation at their meeting tonight calling on the Martinez Refining Company to comply with Bay Area Air Quality Management District regulations. The Oct. 6 release of coke dust — a byproduct of petroleum refining — was the third release in 12 months. Though the Contra Costa County Health Department said there wasn’t a risk of exposure this time, residents reported seeing dust and feeling symptoms of illness.
“The Martinez City Council urges PBF Energy [the parent company for the Martinez Refining Company] … to demonstrate its willingness to become a good neighbor by complying with the Air District’s Rule 6-5 by the 2026 deadline,” reads the proclamation.
PBF Energy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
PADILLA’S NEW COMMITTEE: Sen. Alex Padilla was appointed today to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the wake of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s passing last month. (He’s also already chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife.)
PRESS CLUB: Sander Kushen is Sierra Club California’s new press secretary. He was previously an advocate with the public interest advocacy group CALPIRG.
— An overview of the supply chain constraints and recall challenges facing California truck companies as they prepare for a zero-emissions mandate.
— China Daily, the state-run English-language paper in China, ran a cover story on Newsom’s upcoming trip.
— Gas utilities pulled from the tobacco industry playbook to suppress and create confusion around the health impacts of gas stoves.
