Dennis RomeroAn awesome new electricity use map created by UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities shows what you probably already suspect.
Those righteous Prius drivers and aficionados of all things “sustainable,” a.k.a. rich Westsiders, have some of the highest power usage figures in town:
According to the school, UCLA researchers crunched usage data, both commercial and residential, from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Then they “collaborated with the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research to produce the map,” the university says in a statement.
The result, at least from our quick assessment, seems to confirm areas that you would think would use a lot of juice:
The higher-use areas are lighter in color.; Credit: UCLA
The industrial corridor of Harbor-Gateway, the Port of Los Angeles, LAX, and the McMansion-populated areas of the Westside and West Valley, including parts of “Beverly Hills Post Office,” Bel Air and Pacific Palisades. (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, their own cities, were not included in the data).
UCLA says the map can be used to “help policymakers pinpoint the best locations for future energy-efficiency programs … “
Jacki Murdock, a researcher at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and the map's main creator, says:
This is the first time that we're really able to see what consumption patterns are in the city. It really helps reveal the connections between land use and energy demands and can help decision-makers better plan the energy grid to address future demand.
In other words, it can be used to tell self-important, hybrid-driving celebrities to move to a Palms one-bedroom or shut the hell up.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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