Last night on KKUP, Ken Abreu from Calpine mentioned that it is common for power plants to be located close to residential areas using the local universities as an example. Also at http://www.metcalfenergycenter.com/ in the FAQ there is the following question and answer:

Is it unusual for electric generation facilities of this kind to be located in the vicinity of populations centers?

No. Electric generation facilities are often located in areas of high population, allowing the electric generation to be efficiently located near the load it serves. In the Bay Area, large plants are located in San Francisco and the East Bay and smaller plants are located at the Agnews State Hospital, San Francisco International Airport and on the campuses of Stanford University, UC Berkeley and San Jose State University. One example of this is located in the East Bay: The Crockett Cogeneration facility, a 240 megawatt power plant, safely operates only a few blocks away from businesses and residences.

Since I could not remember a 145' stack at San Jose State I decide to see if I could find the size of these power plants for comparison purposes.

UC Berkeley: I was able to talk with a person in the physical plant department who told me the UC Berkeley power plant generates only 25 megawatts

Stanford: At the web page http://www.stanford.edu/group/EMG/html/cef.html there is a description of Stanford's 39.2 megawatt plant.

San Jose State: I am still investigating their plant.

One warning in comparison: These plants use older technology so they are probably not as efficient as the proposed Calpine plant but they tiny compared to the 600 megawatt power plant Calpine would like to build.

I urge Calpine to update their FAQ with this information along with information about emissions from these plants so residents can make a more informed decision about the proposed Calpine plant.

Sincerely,

Steven Nelson