(First printed in the North Bay Business Journal – July 25, 2016) According to Stacey Lawson, CEO of Ygrene Energy Fund, the property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing program is poised for takeoff, and Ygrene is positioned to serve a large part of that market. The YgreneWorks PACE program allows residents to finance energy efficiency … Read more
(Published July 11, 2016 in the North Bay Business Journal) Any financial institution that claims to protect its clients’ or members’ hard-earned investments needs to emulate the innovative sustainability programs of Redwood Credit Union and Beneficial State Bank.The connection may not seem obvious but the reason is as simple as cause and effect. Climate change … Read more
by Barry Vesser and Kristin Berger Doing Well and Doing Good: Sustainable Investment From 2012 to 2014, sustainable and impact investing assets enjoyed a growth rate of more than 76%, increasing from $3.74 trillion in 2012 to over $6 trillion in 2014. It is now possible to invest our money for our children’s education and our retirement … Read more
by Ann Hancock, The Climate Center | March 10, 2016 In October 2014, at our first Business of Local Energy Symposium, only two operational Community Choice programs existed in California: Marin Clean Energy and Sonoma Clean Power. A mere sixteen months later, Community Choice is taking off across the state. We reported this story in … Read more
By Woody Hastings, CCP | Feb. 25, 2016 Sonoma Clean Power launched in 2014 with rates below PG&E. SCP’s standard plan is to set rates once per year. When it had its first chance to raise rates in April 2015, it chose to keep them unchanged from the previous year. This year the staff … Read more
Creating the Clean Energy Economy: Optimizing Community Choice The Climate Center is organizing its second all-day Business of Local Energy Symposium to accelerate California’s shift to a clean energy economy, driven by local government and business. The Symposium provides a forum to exchange ideas about Community Choice Energy programs and to learn about current energy policy, regulations, … Read more
by Mike Sandler Without a doubt, the Paris Agreement is historic. It provides some much-needed relief to the UN process and the leaders of the world who suffered a major setback after the UN’s Copenhagen breakdown in 2009. It lets a term-limited President of the United States claim to have set laudably ambitious goals, and … Read more
By Woody Hastings The race is on between San Francisco’s CleanPowerSF and Peninsula Clean Energy: Which will be first to launch an electricity program for their residents and businesses? San Francisco has a head start because they have been working on their effort for many years, and they are on schedule to launch early in … Read more
By Barry Vesser, CCP | Nov. 12, 2015 [ San Jose City Councilmember Ash Kalra talks about his interest in Community Choice] Momentum is building for Community Choice Energy (CCE) in Silicon Valley. San Mateo aims to form a Joint Powers Authority (JPA), the legal framework for a multi-municipality Community Choice program, in February 2016, … Read more
by Mike Sandler, Co-founder of The Climate Center | Oct. 9, 2015 You may have been hearing about the big climate conference coming up in Paris in a few months. It is called COP-21, short for the 21st UN Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The group has … Read more
