The Good, the Bad, and the Other

Public health and the future of distributed generation

October 2001

 Read the press release (105KB)  Read the report (543KB)

The debate over California’s energy future has focused attention on a growing sector of the energy market. Homeowners and businesses are generating electrical energy near the place it is used as an alternative or supplement to the statewide power grid.

Known as distributed generation (DG), this family of technologies holds great promise for locally controlled power generation. But continued reliance on polluting technologies poses a threat to public health.

This report puts forth several policy recommendations to protect the health of Californians and the air quality of our state.

Contents

• Executive Summary
• What Is Distributed Generation?
• The GOOD: The Cleanest Distributed Generation
  • Solar Photovoltaics
  • Wind
  • Fuel Cells
  • Combined Heat and Power
• The BAD: The Dirtiest Distributed Generation
  • Diesel Generators
  • Other Fossil Fuel Internal Combustion Engines
  • Improving ICEs for Emergency Use
• The OTHER: Emerging Distributed
  • Generation Technologies
  • Alternative Fuel Reciprocating Engines
  • Turbines
  • Microturbines
  • Stirling Engines
• Policy Recommendations
• Appendix A: Alternative Fuels
• Appendix B: Glossary
• Notes