Insights

Disaster response and recovery is a complex and costly operation. Disaster response and property restoration firms, the insurance industry, architects and builders, property owners, and representatives of government agencies and NGO’s have to work together on a process that is ultimately paid for by higher insurance premiums and taxes. While sustainability is not the first […]

Saturday, May 13th was a pretty big day for renewable energy in the state of California. The right mix of sun, wind, and reservoirs at hydroelectric plants full from winter rains led to a record 67.2 percent of all power produced on the portion of the grid controlled by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) […]

While the greenest air conditioning system is no air conditioning system, in some parts of the control, central air is necessary during the summer. Air conditioning systems can be real electricity guzzlers, but there are ways to improve the efficiency of your air conditioning system. On a basic level, make sure that your air conditioning […]

SB 100, a bill that mandates that the state will receive all its power from sources that do not produce carbon emissions by the year 2045, came one step closer to becoming a law, or at least landing on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. The bill cleared two important hurdles in Sacramento this month, passing both the […]

When the federal government drops the ball on climate change, California is eager to step up to the plate. From fighting for the Clean Air Act Waiver to aiming for 100 percent renewable energy by 2045, California lawmakers are embracing their state’s role in leading the nation on green energy policy. The federal government provides […]

Researchers at UC Berkeley and Berkeley Law, in a study commissioned by the nonprofit Next 10, found that California’s efforts to fight climate change added 41,000 jobs and $9.1 billion to the Inland Empire’s economy from 2010-2016. Many of these jobs were construction jobs that came from one-time construction investments in building renewable energy power plants. […]

While some GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate wanted to kill federal subsidies for electric vehicles, wind, and solar power, the final version of the tax bill keeps the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and the electric vehicle tax credit. The bill does kill the nuclear and “other” […]

Carbon is the leading cause of global climate change, and carbon pricing offers a tangible, financial penalty greenhouse gas emissions. According to many economists, climate change is a “market failure.”Society at large bears the cost of emitting CO2, while the polluters accrue the benefits. The EPA and other government agencies use estimates of the social […]