California Climate & Energy Collaborative

Creating more sustainable water systems by taking lessons from the energy industry

Sarina Soor
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“In California a whopping 19 percent of the total electrical demand is used in some way to move or treat water. Large, centralized water transportation systems like the California Aqueduct consume enormous amounts of electricity lifting water nearly 2,000 feet on its journey to southern California. And the myriad of groundwater wells across the U.S.…

California’s carbon-credit market often pays for greenhouse gas reductions that would’ve happened anyway

Sarina Soor
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“On a dairy farm in California’s Central Valley, Wesley Patterson squinted under a dusty baseball cap as he explained, over the roar of its natural gas-burning engine, the advantages of installing a methane digester. He pointed to several football-field-sized ponds of cow manure covered in industrial-strength tarps. The methane coming off the animal waste is…

U.S Energy Supply and Use

Sarina Soor
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The U.S. energy supply system is diverse and robust in its ability to provide a secure supply of energy with only occasional interruptions. However, projected impacts of climate change will increase energy use in the summer and pose additional risks to reliable energy supply. Extreme weather events and water shortages are already interrupting energy supply,…

Are we promoting the right kind of energy efficiency?

Sarina Soor
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“…I am evaluating an energy efficiency program in the industrial sector in California. Recently, we achieved a milestone that I was unsure we would ever make. Here’s the gist of our study. We are partnering with Lightapp, a startup that uses remote sensing and cloud-based data analytics to provide industrial facilities real-time insights on their energy…