Burger Battle Focuses Attention on the Impact of Meat
The COOL Cuisine Burger Battle wrapped up March 31 with an amazing 5,110 plant-based burgers sold according to event organizers. That’s an average of 161 burgers per day. Compared to consuming that many beef burgers, diners together prevented 15.5 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions…
A Green New Deal Conversation with David Weiskopf
Editor’s Note: Coming next month, A Green New Deal Conversation with the UC Davis Policy Institute. The Green New Deal is a resolution introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in early February of 2019. The primary sponsors are Senator Ed Markley,…
The Sun Is Setting on the 30% Solar Tax Credit
The solar tax credit has been with us since 2005. In its current form, it provides a 30% tax credit for the installation of a solar system to generate electricity or for a solar hot water system. This allows a homeowner to directly subtract 30%…
Satisfied Electric Vehicle Owner Catalyzed by EVs@theMarket Event
Larry Greene is serious about living more sustainably. He recently decided to take another step in the journey: he bought an electric vehicle (EV). Larry, who’s a current member of the Cool Davis Board and a past executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality…
Solar “Power Pioneer” Proves Payback Period Has Decreased Dramatically
It’s not surprising that Sue Fields decided to put solar panels on her roof in 2010 — a relatively early time in the movement – she’s an environmental engineer after all. Sue freely admits she didn’t research all of the installers in the area or…
California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Trending Down, Let’s Keep It That Way
The bad news is that there is a 429 million-metric ton elephant in the room—the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced in California in 2016. (The 2017 total is still being calculated.) The good news is that elephant is getting smaller, shrinking a little each…
Fire in the Hole – The Burning of California
Editor’s Note: This month is the one year anniversary of the Tubbs fire, the most destructive wildfire in California history. Fifteen of the 20 largest wildfires in recorded California history have occurred since 2000. Wildfire is nothing new in our state. It is a natural…
Buying or Leasing an Electric Vehicle? Get Money Back!
If you’re thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV), don’t look at that sticker price just yet. Check out tax breaks and rebates first to capitalize on a sweet bit of cash back on your purchase (with some for leases, too). There are three main…
The Staycation? It’s Still a Thing! Great Options for a Local Vacation This Summer
A summer road trip is an American tradition. The idea of the wind blowing in your hair, the beckoning of the distant horizon, the kids squabbling in the back seat, and bad road food has a romantic attraction of sorts. But long days over hot…
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…
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