[Lwvcnmtopics] More on the PRC and Santa Fe Institute

[George Richmond]

If you read my last email on the PRC, then you learned how the Santa Fe 
Institute is working on solving PRC problems.

This article below is from the Santa Fe New Mexican, and I do suggest 
you read it as it deals also with the change at the PRC to a three 
person appointed board.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/real_estate/why-we-need-an-appointed-prc/article_3b7268f6-14bf-11eb-abec-475416af3bad.html

BUILDING SANTA FE


  Why we need an appointed PRC

  * By Kim Shanahan
    <https://www.santafenewmexican.com/users/profile/Shanafe>
  * Oct 24, 2020

Many a thoughtful voter, and I am one, has been struggling with 
Constitutional Amendment 1 on the ballot.

That one would change the makeup of the Public Regulation Commission 
from five elected members representing five statewide regions to three 
people appointed by the governor. Who can be against popularly elected 
representation and doesn’t fear certain administrations?

Two big events this past week changed my mind. Constitutional Amendment 
1 needs to pass, thus allowing a switch to appointees — if we have any 
hope of reaching the goals of the Energy Transition Act that mandates 
New Mexico will have carbon-free electricity by 2045.

The first two-by-four upside my head was reading a draft white paper 
titled “The Energy Transition in New Mexico: Insights from a Santa Fe 
Institute Workshop.” It was co-authored by resident institute scientist 
and former City Councilor Cris Moore.

At 45 pages, its scope was breathtaking — a wide, deep and hopeful look 
into the future based on what’s possible and what can be accomplished if 
all the pieces fall into place.

The Santa Fe Institute is a low-key treasure of local intellect unlike 
any other in that its members can research and write anywhere but choose 
our spot in the world to live their daily lives. But when it asks 
national and international colleagues to a workshop, nobody says no.

The workshop was held over three days at the end of February, the last 
in-person gathering before the world shut down. Besides the out-of-town 
scientists and thinkers, it included an equal number of local and 
statewide experts and thinkers. Their task? How does New Mexico get 
there from here?

They spent no time on the costs of solar or wind; it was a given they 
get cheaper. Instead, they focused on what now is necessary. 
Specifically, energy storage, flexible demand, space and water heating, 
transportation and regional coordination.

Another underlying assumption is that it doesn’t stop with 100 percent 
renewable electricity from the Public Service Company of New Mexico by 
2040, which it has pledged to do, but that our demand for that 
electricity will grow significantly by 2040 as we electrify heating, hot 
water and transportation in our homes and businesses.

That is how we get to near-total decarbonization.

The hopeful, and supportable, part of the road map is jobs and our 
statewide economy post-COVID-19 and beyond. Flexible demand 
infrastructure, for instance, starts with supercomputers and the brains 
to program them. We have Los Alamos and Sandia labs.

Solarizing our homes and businesses; microgrids for new subdivisions 
controlled with artificial intelligence algorithms; replacing gas-fired 
furnaces and water heaters with electric ones tied to rooftop solar 
panels; electric vehicle charging ports tied to the same panels … all 
those things lead to a jobs future and a path to carbon neutrality.

The biggest challenges will be regulatory. And not just in our state. 
Regional interstate regulatory hurdles speak to a level of integration 
and cooperation that we are far from realizing any time soon.

Builders work off plans and schedules toward a completion. The white 
paper lays out the plan but not the schedules that create the 
scaffolding for what needs to happen.

That’s why the PRC needs appointees committed to executing a plan the 
Energy Transition Act requires. The current governor, Michelle Lujan 
Grisham, will do the right thing. The past governor, Susana Martinez, 
appointed Doug Howe to the PRC — perhaps its most expert and thoughtful 
member ever. If we are committed to the transition, it’s the only way to 
get there.

The second two-by-four upside the head? That was Avangrid buying PNM. 
Wow. That sealed the decision for me.

/Kim Shanahan is a longtime Santa Fe builder and former executive 
officer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association. Contact 
him//atshanafe at aol.com <mailto:shanafe at aol.com>./

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-- 
George M. Richmond
152 Juniper Hill Road, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87122-1913

C: 505-280-2105
E: geomrich1 at comcast.net



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