California Climate & Energy Collaborative

The Integrated Renewable Energy System Network Advisory Committee

Sarina Soor
The Integrated Renewable Energy System Network (IRESN) aims to promote more effective engagement between local jurisdictions and energy service providers toward accelerated deployment of clean local energy resources. IRESN is organizing a committee to advise a one-year effort to develop a vision and action guidelines for teamwork between cities and utilities to improve local energy…

Communities rise up to draw down on carbon

Sarina Soor
, ,
“In early October, county residents overflowed the Marin Showcase Theatre in Northern California for Drawdown: Marin. Their purpose: to launch a campaign to put Marin County at the forefront of California’s efforts to reverse global warming by creating a carbon-free community. County Supervisor Damon Connolly greeted those gathered with the core question, ‘What part will you…

San Diego moves ahead of climate goal schedule

Sarina Soor
, ,
“San Diego continues to lower its greenhouse-gas emission thanks largely to California’s tough environmental rules, according to an annual monitoring report released Wednesday that tracks the progress of the city’s ambitious Climate Action Plan. The city has pledged to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint by using 100 percent green energy within the next two decades…

Navigating the Changing Landscape of Energy Efficiency Programs in the East Bay

Sarina Soor
,
“Navigating the Changing Landscape of Energy Efficiency Programs in the East Bay” is a discussion paper created by the Policy & Regulatory Subcommittee of Strategic Advisory Committee of the East Bay Energy Watch (EBEW). The subcommittee is made up of a group of city staff and partners from Contra Costa and Alameda Counties who participate in…

Republican mayor transforms California city into ‘the solar capital of the universe’

Sarina Soor
, ,
“Some cities were hit hard by the Great Recession. Lancaster, California was positively clobbered. In the summer of 2009, the unemployment rate reached 17 percent, housing prices bottomed out, and foreclosures were rampant. Since then, the city has turned things around, thanks in part to the efforts of three-time Republican mayor Rex Parris, who transformed Lancaster into…

Olive Meadow Earns LEED Platinum Certification for Energy Efficiency, Environmental Design

Sarina Soor
, ,
“Olive Meadow at Arrowhead Grove, part of a transformational public-private partnership in San Bernardino, has received LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. Platinum is the highest designation under the council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design program, underscoring the quality of design and construction that has…

City of Malibu Joins Energy Efficiency Campaign

Sarina Soor
, ,
The City of Malibu joined the Do Your Thing Campaign, Energy Upgrade California’s statewide campaign to educate all Californians about smarter energy use to make the state cleaner, healthier and more prosperous. The program aims to reduce pollution from power plant carbon emissions, decrease pollution-related health costs, promote an active outdoor lifestyle, and create jobs and…

Study: $40M to install solar-plus-storage systems at 12 SF sites for seismic resiliency

Sarina Soor
, ,
Equipping multiple community buildings at 12 sites with solar-plus-storage systems to provide power if a major earthquake knocks San Francisco off the grid would cost $40 million, a new city study shows. Jessie Denver, energy program manager with the Department of the Environment, which is leading the effort in partnership with San Francisco-based energy consultant…

California’s Visalia Unified School District to Install 1.6 MWh of Energy Storage

Sarina Soor
,
Green Charge, an ENGIE Company, today announced that the Visalia Unified School District will install 1.6-megawatt hours of energy storage at five schools in the district. The energy storage system, coupled with solar, is expected to save the school district more than $1,000,000 over the 10-year contract. Click here to read more from Business Wire

Congratulations to Beacon and Spotlight Award Winners for 2017

Sarina Soor
, , ,
Congratulations to cities, counties, and other local agencies improving sustainability in their communities! Palo Alto, San Carlos, Claremont, Hayward, Foster City, Sacramento, Fremont, Scotts Valley and Alpine County all received Beacon Awards this year. Many more cities and counties received Spotlight Awards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, natural gas savings, and sustainability best practices. This year…