By Eliza Ridgeway

Byron

Los Altos resident Jeff Byron started his work at the California Energy Commission during a challenging season. Appointed in June to the state’s primary energy policy and planning agency, Byron now has responsibility for California’s present and future energy needs.

With rising fuel costs, supply problems with Alaskan pipelines and ever-increasing energy consumption nationwide, it is an important burden indeed.

Gov. Schwarzenegger crossed party lines to appoint Byron, a Democrat, to the five-year post. Byron, a 23-year resident, has a background on “both sides of the meter,” as he puts it. He most recently worked with energy users in his firm Byron Consulting Group, but in the past has done utilities research and served as co-chair of the Silicon Valley Leadership Council’s energy committee.

“The last couple of weeks brought to light again how important electricity is,” he said. “Electricity, and now air conditioning, is thought of as air is - it’s one of those things we now expect to be there.”

He said that the committee is at a crucial juncture, now that it is acutely aware of the effects of greenhouse gases, climate change and burning fossil fuels.

“California on its own can’t effect all the changes, but it has provided leadership many other times,” Byron said.

The energy commission doesn’t set policy directly, as it follows the direction of the state Legislature. It looks ahead to determine what resources the state will need in the future and how those needs can be adjusted and planned for.

Energy conservation measures such as California’s Title 24 efficiently standards exist thanks to work of the commission.

Looking ahead, Byron sees a need for new sources of power. California is already ahead of the curve, relying on natural gas to generate electricity while much of the nation still burns coal. While natural gas is environmentally preferable to coal, Byron said

that relying on a single

source still makes the state vulnerable.

“The mandate is to make sure that the lights stay on,” he said. “I love electricity. It correlates strongly with literacy, and I think it’s been the fuel of our economy for the last 100 years.”

He said that the country has become addicted, and that most people don’t realize how much energy they use. He gives talks to elementary schoolchildren trying to capture the massive amount of human work that would be necessary to generate a single kilowatt hour of electricity.

He will continue that work across the state while he is on the commission. He is already working four days a week in Sacramento, although the State Senate has not yet confirmed his appointment.

“This is my ultimate job,” Byron said. “When the opportunity came, within a matter of two weeks, I shut down my practice. It’s a very risky venture - there’s no rich or famous California energy commissioners.”

He leapt at the opportunity to think big and influence the state’s energy policy. “This is a public service,” he said. “I want to take my 30 years of experience and put it to good use.”