Syma Ebbin of Groton, a member of the Long Island Sound Assembly, said her group urges the state to start considering climate change when building future infrastructure projects and to update building codes to account for stronger storms. Read the full story
About 1.4 billion people in the world have absolutely no access to electricity at all and even more have extremely unreliable access. Additionally, there are some 30,000 clinics and 60,000 schools around the world that lack access to electricity.
To help utilities address the privacy issue, two research associates at the Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment have developed a model privacy policy. “We identified concerns about privacy as a barrier to smart grid progress,” said Colin Hagan, one of the researchers. “We’ve seen how consumer concern can delay projects or focus attention on them.”
Scientists said that some of the season’s dust storms had been the most intense since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. They have caused power outages and deadly crashes around the Southwest.
With a link between extreme weather and rising greenhouse gases, two thoughts are emerging. Many environmentalists say we should work toward mitigating greenhouse gases but others suggest the problems are irreversible and so we have to adapt to inevitable change. But for some this idea is uncomfortable. They worry that adaptation means giving up. Today we look at these two different thoughts around climate change and see where we go from here. Listen to the full story
Many of us are keenly aware that to achieve positive outcomes on any complex, systemic, societal issue, whether it is environmental, economic or social in nature, we need to find ways to work collaboratively. This is by no means a new idea...
Scientists around the world are studying global climate change and developing various scenarios regarding its potential impact. But the real action and impact will occur at the local level. This is what Switzer Fellows Lisa Micheli and Healy Hamilton are working on in a project they call At the Water's Edge.
Matt Orosz is an inventor and entrepreneur focused on overcoming the challenges to building sustainable energy infrastructure in underserved areas. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, Matt's experience living without electricity or running water catalyzed his study of engineering and the foundation of STG International, an organization that works to build capacity for solar micro-utilities. Read the full story
California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) law requires all utilities to generate 33 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. The state's 10 largest publicly owned utilities (POUs) deliver approximately one-quarter of the state's electricity needs and have made significant strides in clean energy investments since the start of the RPS program. However, the degree to which these investments promoted new clean energy resources varied significantly by utility.
"I call them heat storms. Because they are so dramatic. In 2006, we had a heat wave and 147 people were documented as dying by the Los Angeles County Coroner. But researchers believe the number was three or four times higher - that over 600 people died as a result of that heat wave," explained Nancy Steele, executive director of the Southern California-based Council for Watershed Health, which used to be called the Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council.
