Clean Energy

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New Jersey executive order leverages land use rules to control where and what developers can build

Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat from New Jersey, (New Jersey National Guard photo by Mark C. Olsen) found on https://www.flickr.com/photos/njnationalguard/44910726671

by Tracey Tully, The New York Times Highlights: A New Jersey democrat has introduced legislation that requires new building projects to account for climate resiliency and mitigating environmental impacts such as GHG emissions in order to receive government approval The state is currently experiencing sinking, accelerated sea-level rise, and flooding along its 130-mile coastline The … Read more

Categories Business Network Clean Energy Energy Efficiency
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Climate Tipping Points Are Closer Than We Think, Scientists Warn

From melting ice caps to dying forests and thawing permafrost, the risk of ‘abrupt and irreversible changes’ is much higher than thought just a few years ago “We must admit that we have underestimated the risks of unleashing irreversible changes, where the planet self-amplifies global warming,” said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate … Read more

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Part of California’s power outage solution is sitting in half a million driveways

Last week, when PG&E shut off power to almost one million customers, many of us were left without heat, refrigeration, internet, light, and other essential functions for days. While some people fired up gas and diesel generators to bridge the power gap, these fossil fuel generators are no treat for neighbors with asthma and other … Read more

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Opinion: Microgrids could prevent need for planned power outages

Community microgrids are safe, reliable, clean, smart, and distributed.

Our aging and unstable electrical system must be replaced now, not decades from now This piece was originally published in the Mercury News opinion section on October 25, 2019. (Subscription required.) The dramatic increase in the size and severity of California’s wildfires in recent years is just one example of the devastating effects of climate … Read more

Categories Clean Energy Community Energy Resilience Energy Efficiency
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These three circular economy principles can help combat the climate crisis

45% of global emissions come from making things, everyday products like cars and clothes, and managing land Only a systems-level approach will enable us to achieve the 1.5 ̊C target by 2050 while building greater resilience to climate change. Energy lies at the core of efforts to address climate change. Worldwide, the electricity, heat and … Read more

Categories Business Network Clean Energy Energy Efficiency
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Energy resilient communities through distributed, clean, smart and local microgrids (Advanced Community Energy or ACE)

by Kurt Johnson, The Climate Center (read full article on our website here) As climate-related disruptions grow more frequent and severe, we urgently need effective local strategies to achieve decarbonization, resilience, social equity and security. The common basis for all these goals is to create local electric systems — carbon-free, safe, resilient and accessible to … Read more

Categories Business Network Clean Energy
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UNITED IN SCIENCE: High-level synthesis report of latest climate science (Sept 2019)

See this excellent United Nations high level climate science synthesis (Sept 22 2019) of the latest from the advisory group to the UN Climate Action Summit. You can read the press release and summary here.  This is provides the scientific foundation for much more bold action in California– accelerated timelines and more aggressive policies to … Read more

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How’s Ann?

Those who know me are naturally curious when learning the news that Ellie Cohen became the new CEO of The Climate Center (formerly the Center for Climate Protection). Am I retiring? Cutting back? Motivated by some other personal reason? This concern really touches me. Here’s the backstory. The move to hire Ellie was strictly mission-driven … Read more

Categories Clean Energy