Rooftop Solar: Partial Fixes for Partial Shade
Tis my delight, alone in summer shade / To pipe a simple song for thinking hearts. — William Wordsworth Wordsworth may have appreciated shade on a summer day, but solar panels do not. Most people know that solar panels produce little on a cloudy day….
Electric vehicles reach a tipping point
Auto writers and forecasters including mainstream business publications like The Economist and Business Insider believe we’re fast approaching a tipping point in the adoption of electric vehicles. Author Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term tipping point in his 2000 book by the same name. According to…
Climate Impacts: 2017 in Review
It’s hard to say that any particular weather event is caused entirely by climate change. It’s possible that none are. On the other hand, scientists are starting to learn how climate change is affecting the weather overall leading to drier, wetter, stronger or longer events…
Electric Vehicles: Looking Back at What the Future Might Hold
The first known example of an electric vehicle is found in Scotland in the 1830s. It worked but was severely limited because batteries of the day could not be recharged and had to be replaced after a couple of miles. The rechargeable lead/acid battery came…
Electric Vehicles: And Now For the Cons (sort of)
In last month’s newsletter, Cool Davis super volunteer Mike Kluk explored the pluses of electric vehicle (EV) ownership in his piece titled, “Should Your Next Vehicle be Electric?” This month Mike explores some of the downsides of EV ownership. We start with an excerpt from…
Should Your Next Vehicle Be Electric?
Does charging forward with an electric vehicle mean turning your back on the American love affair with the automobile? In a city like Davis, that affair may not be as intense as in some other parts of the country but it’s still meaningful. And why not?…
Our Children Fight for Right to a Stable Climate System
November 30, 2016 By Mike Kluk Regardless of political persuasion, if you accept the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real and is caused by human activity, these are unsettling times. The new administration cavalierly dismisses climate change as a Chinese hoax and has threatened…
Global Emissions Rate of Increase Leveling Off Due to Decreasing Use of Coal
December 1, 2016 by Mike Kluk New data shows that the yearly increase in global CO2 emissions has fallen to .2 percent per year from a 3 percent rate of ten years ago. This is the good news in the bad news. The year-to-year quantity…
Plug-In Hybrid with Leading All-Electric Range? Try the Chevy Volt
November 21, 2016 By Mike Kluk What’s in a name? For the model identity gurus at Chevrolet, the right name requires an “electric” allusion if you’re talking all-electric (EV) or plug-in hybrid vehicles. There’s the small all-electric Spark, the new Bolt, scheduled to debut on…
Saylor Slashes Energy Costs with Solar Following Energy Retrofit
October 3, 2016 by Mike Kluk Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor and his wife adopted solar energy in December 2013 motivated by high power bills and a desire to lower their carbon footprint. Their total energy bill was peaking at about $400 a month which…
Local Leaf Dealer Moving 40 Best-Selling Electrics a Year
September 26, 2016 By Mike Kluk I recently test drove the all-electric Nissan Leaf at our local Nissan Dealer, Hanlees. This car runs entirely on the electric power stored in a lithium ion battery with no gas engine at all. My wife and I were…
Shade Issues No Problem for This Solar System
July 28, 2016 By Mike Kluk Richard and Linda Allison, their three daughters, and Linda’s mother live in a house on a quiet South Davis cul de sac. With six in the family, power use is going to be relatively high no matter how you…
They Waited Forty Years for Solar to Be Affordable – Now It Is
July 5, 2016 by Mike Kluk Craig Thomsen and Paula Samuelsen looked into the feasibility of installing solar panels when they originally purchased their home in 1988, but at that time it was simply too expensive for their budget. Finally, costs reached a tipping point sometime…
Neighborly Support Aids ‘No Brainer’ Decision to Go Solar
June 7, 2016 By Mike Kluk Long-time Davis residents Karen Leaf and Tim Ainsworth, who went solar in August of 2015, say their West Davis neighbors encouraged them, offered advice, and generally supported them though the process. But in the end, the decision was, in…
Local Family Produces More Energy Than They Consume
June 7, 2016 By Mike Kluk Steve Wheeler, Mimi Kusch, and their daughter Maddy installed a solar array on the roof of their West Davis home in November of 2015 and haven’t looked back since. In fact, they have big plans for the future thanks…
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Greywater Showcase 2018: Shower greywater systems - Cool Davis
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Thursday July 19th 5:30-7:30pm Davis Senior Center1 day ago
