Paul Lau

CEO & General Manager, SMUD · 1 appearance on the record.

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Paul Lau joined SMUD as an electrical engineering intern in 1982 and became CEO and General Manager in October 2020. He leads SMUD's 2030 Zero Carbon Plan to eliminate carbon emissions from its power supply.

6statements → 3claims → 3claims resolved → 100%fully supported → 3.83/5average certainty → 1.17/5average debate potential →

3 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 assertions · 1 opinion · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 3 are resolved. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Paul argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

SMUD power plants emit 2M tons of carbon while buildings and transport emit 8M

“So the Smuts power plants emits about two million metric tons of carbon a year, but the building and transportation sector emits eight million metric tons of carbon.”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 7:15 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1

none yet certainty 2

100% certainty 3

100% certainty 4

none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Paul Lau on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said6 Episodes1

Everything Paul Lau said on the Green Blueprint that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion

Lau: Decarbonization requires breakthroughs in long-duration storage, hydrogen, and CCS

“We do need breakthrough technologies, you know, that would be critical. So that we're focusing on long duration storage, hydrogen as a replacement fuel in the power plants, and carbon capture and sequestration.”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 19:58 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Assertion Supported

SMUD power plants emit 2M tons of carbon while buildings and transport emit 8M

“So the Smuts power plants emits about two million metric tons of carbon a year, but the building and transportation sector emits eight million metric tons of carbon.”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 7:15 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Disclosure

SMUD is investing $2B to cut 1M metric tons of carbon in transport and buildings

“We're also investing two billion dollars, you know, in the building and transportation sectors along with energy efficiencies and the low flexibility because that's really where a lot of the, you know, that, that's a much bigger impact. So our plan actually ca…”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 7:37 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Assertion Supported

California mandates 5M EVs by 2030, with SMUD targeting 300k vehicles

“California is mandated to basically put in about 5,000,005 million electric vehicles by 2030. And SMUD's contribution of that is about 300,000 vehicles.”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 8:10 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Assertion Supported

Lau: Widespread smart thermostat pre-cooling can provide hundreds of megawatts

“So certainly, you know, something as simple as a smart thermostat, right? That you help pre-cool the home, you know, before the peak comes and then have it ride through. If everybody does it, that could add up to hundreds of megawatts.”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 15:39 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Disclosure

Lau: SMUD offers $500–$2,500 incentives for virtual power plant battery enrollment

“Convince them to put batteries in and have them sign up for programs like Smite is doing right now, what we call the virtual power plant, that you offer them incentives to sign up if they have a batteries from, you know, some simply just say, hey, I am going t…”

Paul Lau Jul 12, 2022 ▶ 16:29 The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
The people-centric transition to zero emissions [Partner content]	Jul 12, 2022	9m

Paul Lau

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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