california

California Energy

California? It used to be mentioned in the same breath as oil giants Texas and Alaska, but oil production is down 21 percent since 2001 and it has slipped out of the top-three tier of oil-producing states.[read more]

smart grid investment

Two cities in California are leveraging innovative financial programs to help fund adoption of both energy efficiency and renewables generation technologies, spurring technology markets.[read more]

water sources

Strong new fracking rules are essential to protect public lands, private lands that are in a split estate situation, and drinking water sources for millions of Americans.[read more]

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The Smart Grid engenders an evolution from centralized generation to distributed energy resources (DER) that has profound impacts on business models and operations. Technology is one of the drivers of this evolution.[read more]

Many willl be surprised as it dawns that the biggest catastrophic event likely to happen today in California is a flood caused by a rainstorm. The US Geological Survey recently studied flood risk in California by modelling what would happen if the state was hit by an event about one half as severe as the greatest flood to have happened in the state since it was settled by Europeans, i.e. the Great Flood of 1861-62.[read more]

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A new report released this week by the Legislative Analyst’s Office recommends that the California Legislature develop a comprehensive strategy for meeting the state’s energy efficiency and alternative energy goals. Included in the report are recommendations for the state to specify its energy efficiency and alternative energy goals, determine how programs should fit together to achieve the state’s goals, and clarify how to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.[read more]

The SF Energy Co-op has found a way to make the benefits of green energy available to anyone, through the power of collective investment and organization. As Wynns puts it, “Say it costs $20K to put solar on your roof, but you can’t do that, for whatever reason. So you go to your neighbor and say, ‘I’ll pay to put it on your roof, and then you pay me what I would have been saving, and you’ll still be saving money on your power bill.’ And say instead you go to 100 friends and you all pay $200 to do the same thing. You can do the same good when people pool together small amounts of money.”[read more]

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California has some of the tightest environmental policies in the country. Many see these policies as economic suicide. Keep it up and we will tax ourselves into the poorhouse, while the rest of the world happily spews ever more greenhouse gases. Can the state afford to keep such strict rulebooks?[read more]

California Lithium Battery Inc. (CalBattery) – a start-up established in 2011 – has announced the development of a potential battery breakthrough that could significantly increase energy density and reduce costs. As the battery industry continues to struggle with performance and cost issues, especially when it comes to electric vehicles...[read more]

Credit: PriceWaterhouseCoopers

That is perhaps the most interesting question raised by the latest “Consumer Pulse” research by the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative.In its third survey by the Collaborative of at least 1,000 consumers throughout the U.S. since 2011 reflecting the U.S. demographics, 54% of Americans who are heads of households and at least 18 years old...[read more]

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Recently, California took a bold step into the future when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Energy Security Coordination Act. This aligns California with the Department of Defense, which is one of world’s largest consumers of energy. With fuel-intensive deployments across the globe, and enormous energy needs to operate military installations here at home, the DoD has identified fossil fuel dependency as a strategic liability.[read more]

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How much higher were gasoline prices in California last week than elsewhere?  Enough to raise the national average price for unleaded regular by about $0.10 per gallon.  So while the rest of us were paying an average of $3.75/gal., down slightly from the previous week, gas prices in the Golden State went up by 48 cents,...[read more]

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Making energy-efficient improvements to your home can save thousands of dollars and provide a healthier indoor environment. With utility prices at an all time high, there are few homeowner who would shy away from a chance to save some money. The only problem is that retrofitting your home with solar panels or a tank-less water heater takes money–lots of it. Homeowners who lack the financing to install these upgrades often get stuck in a limbo of high bills and an inability to do anything about them.[read more]

Who loves you, electric vehicles? California loves you, that’s who.The Golden State, with 12 percent of the nation’s population, will account for nearly a quarter of all electric vehicle sales between now and 2020, according to a new report, which says nationwide sales of the plug-ins will hit about 400,000 by the end of the decade....[read more]

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Next week’s scheduled practice auction of greenhouse gas allowances for California’s largest polluters will provide an important first look into how the state’s cap-and-trade program, a key element of the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), will work going forward.With millions of dollars worth of allowances planned to be auctioned in...[read more]