Geothermal power plants use heat from the Earth to generate electricity. Conventional geothermal has been around for about 120 years and produces about one-tenth of the carbon dioxide emissions that a gas power plant produces. Geothermal plants can operate around the clock and this resource will last for billions of years. However, until recently, geothermal … Read more
California is a major petroleum refining state. However, two refineries — Phillips 66 in Wilmington and Valero in Benicia — have announced plans to close at the end of 2025 and early 2026, respectively. Together, these refineries produce about 17 percent of the state’s gasoline supply. If both refineries close as planned, the state could … Read more
Californians are facing soaring electricity bills and some of the most polluted air in the country. A massive rollout of bidirectional electric school buses across the state can help tackle both problems. Bidirectional electric vehicles, including school buses, can store energy in their batteries and feed it back to the grid when it’s needed most. … Read more
Right now, nine out of ten school buses across the country run on fossil fuels. California, however, leads the nation in electric school bus adoption, with more than 3,100 electric buses in the state. Every electric school bus provides an opportunity to cut air and climate pollution and save money in California communities. Electric school … Read more
The devastating, climate-fueled Los Angeles fires are estimated to cost around $250 billion. Who pays for that? It’s high time that climate polluters — the oil and gas industry — pay their fair share. The fossil fuel industry has been misleading the public for decades about the consequences of burning fossil fuels, long after they … Read more
As the sixth and final installment in our Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) webinar series, this webinar focused on policy levers that can help incentivize responsible CDR deployment to meet California’s net-zero goals. We examined how to secure high-quality CDR projects while safeguarding communities and the environment. Experts discussed important considerations for policymakers to ensure accountability … Read more
Accurately measuring carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is crucial to responsibly reaching net-negative emissions. Even though there are currently no standardized ways of calculating carbon dioxide removals, governments and private companies have been making voluntary purchases of CDR project credits and using a range of methods for measuring them. As the call for CDR grows louder … Read more
California’s Cap and Trade program, historically a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to reduce climate pollution, is likely to see significant reforms as part of a reauthorization process in 2025. The program is currently authorized to run through 2030, but the long process of reviewing it has begun. While oil companies are pushing to extend … Read more
State legislators and regulators must find ways to adequately protect communities from Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) project impacts and ensure that communities derive direct benefits from local projects. While the Biden administration often imposed strong local engagement and community benefits requirements on federally-funded clean energy projects, we can’t count on the new administration to enforce … Read more
Imagine a future in which every suitable rooftop in California is covered with solar panels. The panels provide power to a resilient network of microgrids and stationary and EV batteries to provide reliable power for millions of Californians every day and night. All electric vehicles can export energy from their batteries to power homes and … Read more