By Mike Sandler and Barry Vesser Published in the Press Democrat 2/13/12 In his inauguration speech, President Obama called for a response to climate change. While commendable that he put climate change back on the political agenda, he forgot the two most important words: carbon price. A carbon price will encourage businesses to make low-carbon … Read more
Sonoma County Water Agency is hosting a tour of energy and sustainability they have developed in an effort to deliver carbon-free water by 2015. The tour will include solar panels, ground source and pond loop geoexchange heating and cooling systems, electric vehicle charging stations and the Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electrical fleet, and the … Read more
As the Renewable Energy Implementation Manager for the Climate Protection Campaign, you might think I support installing solar panels anywhere, any time, any way. The reality is that there are better and worse places to locate renewables, including solar. A recent article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat describes a trend in large-scale energy development … Read more
A two-year struggle to defeat an insidious piece of legislation in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 976, has come to a happy conclusion. On September 27 Governor Brown vetoed AB976 and added a brief signing statement (see below). In this statement the Governor echoed what community choice proponents drove home repeatedly in committee hearings and elsewhere. The … Read more
When we hear about abnormally hot weather, we think of heat waves. In Chicago in 1995, the heat index hit 120 for three days in a row, killing hundreds of elderly people. In France, thousands of people died during seven days of severe heat in 2003. Those events are awful for their destructive force, but … Read more
On November 16th the California Public Utilities Commission announced its decision on how it will handle the revenue generated by auctions in the utility sector in compliance with AB 32 the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act. The decision supports using this revenue to shield utility ratepayers from electric rates which will increase due to the … Read more
Retired banking executive Pat Kilkenny convened 45 Sonoma County business leaders at the offices of GHD engineering on October 24 to hear presentations on the economic advantages of Sonoma Clean Power. Kilkenny invited the attendees to join Business for Sonoma Clean Power and to urge Sonoma County policy makers to create a local electricity provider … Read more
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Have Fallen 14% in Three Years Santa Rosa – Sonoma County greenhouse gas emissions totaled 3.8 million tons in 2011, according to a new report by the Climate Protection Campaign. This marks a reduction of 170,000 tons from the previous year and 600,000 tons from the county’s high mark in 2008. “We might actually … Read more
New Video — Documentary filmmaker Rainie Ames came to Sonoma County at the beginning of October after searching nationwide for communities that are creating their own energy and climate future. She identified Sonoma County as the top spot. This is the best validation that we are achieving what we set out to do when we founded … Read more
