Region: California

Local Planning For Solar Energy — Berkeley Law Webinar

Free event on December 11th, 10-11am, features the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research

The webinars keep coming! Berkeley Law is hosting another free webinar next week on best practices for integrating integrating small- and medium-scale solar energy policies into local general plans. Joining us once again will be Chris Calfee from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), who will provide the latest on the general plan …

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Infill Planning Webinar — Tuesday, December 9th, 10-11am

Berkeley Law will host the free event, which features the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research

UC Berkeley Law is hosting a free webinar on best practices for integrating infill-supportive policies into general plans. Joining us will be Chris Calfee from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), who will provide the latest on the general plan guidelines update process. This web-based event will take place on December 9th (next …

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The California REDD+ Experience

The ongoing political history of California’s initiative to include jurisdictional REDD+ offsets within the cap-and-trade system

Announcing the publication of The California REDD+ Experience, a report written by UCLA’s Emmett Institute faculty and published by the Center for Global Development. Six years ago in Los Angeles, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a memorandum of understanding with Governors from Brazil and Indonesia (and also Wisconsin and Illinois), to “coordinate efforts and promote collaboration” on …

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San Diego Loses Appeal On Its Weak Transportation Plan

Today ‘s ruling confirms that the plan failed under CEQA to consider greenhouse gas emissions to 2050

Back in 2011, the San Diego Association of Governments issued a really bad regional transportation plan.  These plans must prioritize transportation investments across the metropolitan region for the coming decades and are the basis for receiving state and federal infrastructure dollars.  And while most regional transportation plans are usually pretty bad (i.e. favoring highway expansion …

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Some Unsolicited Advice for Tom Steyer

There were a number of efforts by wealthy individuals and/or Super PACs to affect the midterm election results. Most relevant to this blog, Tom Steyer used tens of millions of his own funds to support candidates that he felt would be more supportive of efforts to address climate change. After the election, the media portrayed …

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“You’re Just Not My Type (of error)”

Most people find statistics off-putting — who wants to look at a bunch of numbers?  And Statistics courses, which are required for students in many majors, are usually viewed as a painful box to check.  But when you put aside the numbers and the technicalities, statisticians also have some simple yet powerful concepts.  One of …

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California’s New Groundwater Law: An Interactive Timeline

Groundwater irrigation

What are the major deadlines for local groundwater management agencies, and when can—or must—state agencies act?

Many (including Legal Planet’s own Rick Frank) have examined the pros and cons of California’s new locally-focused groundwater management law.  Such analyses will continue to be critically important as state and local players move forward with the nitty-gritty of actual implementation, and the legislation’s practical, on-the-ground (and under-the-ground) implications become clearer. In this post, however, my goal …

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Solar Plus Storage May Be a Good Deal for Some

One company says that photovoltaics with battery storage are cost-competitive for some businesses now.

A battery company called Coda Energy says that a combination of solar photovoltaics and onsite storage can be cost-competitive with utility electric service for some larger customers. That is according to an online article on greentechgrid. Solar is still a more expensive option for power production than fuels such as natural gas, and various energy …

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Climate Ride Part of Big Climate Week

In addition to the remarkable turnout for the Climate March in New York City, this weekend also kicked off the NYC to DC Climate Ride, which left Manhattan on Saturday, September 20.  The Emmett Institute has its very own rider with Professor Ted Parson pedaling the 300 miles in 5 days.  He’s concluding the ride …

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UCLA / UC Berkeley Law Report On Harvesting Electric Vehicle Batteries For Grid Storage

Joint law school report will be discussed at a webinar on Friday at 10am

As I blogged about last week, California and the nation may have a golden opportunity to harvest used electric vehicle batteries for inexpensive energy storage. These repurposed batteries can be stacked for bulk storage to absorb surplus renewable energy for cloudy and dark windless times. They can save ratepayers money, clean the grid, and potentially …

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