Council Members Favor Voluntary Approach to Home Electrification
The Davis City Council voted Tuesday night in favor of a voluntary approach to building electrification, at least for several years, before reassessing whether to make mandatory a requirement that homeowners replace gas appliances with electric at the end of their useful life. The 4-1…
The Electrification Path to Our Fossil Free Future
Since our founding in 2010, Cool Davis has worked alongside the City of Davis to encourage households to transition away from the use of fossil fuels in our homes, cars, and everyday life. The need for these changes becomes more urgent every day, as climate…
Menlo Park Company Announces First 100% Landfill Biogas Pilot Project for Yolo Co
MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Clean power generation provider Mainspring Energy announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Yolo County, California, to pilot a Mainspring Linear Generator running biogas at the Yolo County Central Landfill. In its first 100% landfill biogas pilot…
Landfill Award to Improve Waste-to-Fuel Processes
The Yolo County Central Landfill (YCCL) has been selected for an award of $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to improve the current science and infrastructure to turn waste streams into clean, renewable fuel. The DOE grant to the YCCL – one…
How Smart Electrical Panels Manage Loads Possibly Avoiding the Need for Upgrades
We live in a 1991 townhouse in Davis. My goal and dream has always been to move away from our current natural gas system and fully use electricity from the sun. But how is that actually achieved? Many smaller and older homes begin life with…
Get Home Electrification Tools and Support from the Switch Is On
The Switch Is On is a collaborative campaign founded in 2019 that supports home electrification by providing tools, support, and resources for Californians, including homeowners as well as contractors.  The Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC)’s goal is to educate everyone about the importance of home electrification. What…
CHOC Energy: Free Decarbonization Services for Low-Income Residents
CHOC Energy offers free weatherization services through the PG&E Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESA) in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo counties, and is planning to incorporate electrification into it’s offerings soon as well. Through CHOC, low-income residents can lower their utility bills…
Renewed Rebates, Utility Assistance, and No-Cost Income-Eligible Solar
Updates and standbys from our Incentives and Assistance page Utility Bill Assistance Programs CARE and FERA are discount programs that help eligible customers pay their energy bills. Over 1.4 million customers receive a bill discount through these two programs. Complete an online CARE/FERA enrollment form…
All-Electric Heat Pumps FAQs
By David Springer, Kristin Heinemeier, Bill Dakin, Nathan Breeding, and Dick Bourne, with contributions from Leslie Crenna The featured photo for this article is the work of Cool Davis volunteer Yvonne Hunter. Q. What is a heat pump? A. heat pump is a well-established and…
Goin’ All-In with an All-Electric Home
My wife Susan and I recently completed a transition to an all-electric home. Those old enough to remember the “Live Better Electrically” campaigns of the late 1950’s may think this is folly. The Westinghouse “total electric homes” promoted from that era promised a “home where…
Increasing Energy Bills Causing Concern in Our Community
Did your energy bill skyrocket last month? Energy bills have gone up and customers are noticing! If you want to understand what’s going on, the first step is to understand that most energy bills in our area reflect two energy sources: natural gas and electricity….
Turn off the Carbon Pump and Turn on the Heat Pump! Heat Pumps Explained in Basic Terms
Most homes in our area use natural gas for heating. When natural gas is burned in your furnace, it can be pretty efficient — up to about 95% efficient if you have an advanced system. But even the best natural gas heaters have some losses,…
Clean Energy Home Workshop Follow Up Video FINALLY Here!
THE CLEAN ENERGY HOME WORKSHOP VIDEO IS READY FOR VIEWING, FINALLY! The video from the very popular event this past August 1, 2021, is a fabulous resource for anyone looking to make a plan to incoporate efficient, all-electric heating and cooling systems in their home…
Daily Choices DO Make a Difference
The average person’s daily choices can still make a big difference in fighting climate change – and getting governments and utilities to tackle it, too Tom Ptak, Texas State University The average American’s everyday interactions with energy sources are limited. They range from turning appliances on…
Student Activists Launch Fossil Free Campaign at UC Davis
As the United Nations-sponsored COP26 climate conference begins in Glasgow, UC Davis faculty, staff, and student activists today announced a petition and educational campaign asking the university to commit to ending fossil fuel use by 2030. The petition also asks that specific policies for doing…
St. Martin’s: Becoming a Zero Carbon Church
Editor’s Note: This text is crossposted from the Interfaith Power & Light Cool Congregations website. In 2004, the Episcopal Church of St. Martin in Davis, California, took first steps toward becoming a zero-carbon church by installing a small photovoltaic solar array on the roof of…
Per Capita: One step forward, two steps back … or is it the other way around?
The prior column was about pieces of the puzzle, how if we raise our gaze from our own circumstance with heat, drought, flood, whatever and take in the growing ubiquity of these extreme events around the planet, we will see a picture that requires us…
Online Workshop Aug 1: Make a Plan for a Clean Energy Home
Sunday August 1st at 2:00-3:30pm online
Per Capita Davis: Here’s a little bit about bitcoin
I’ve been collecting coins since I was a kid, but not so much in the sense of looking for and assembling coins that are worth more than their face value. My coin collection, what my spouse refers to as a “collection of coins” is more…
Per Capita Davis: The world needs to reflect resilience, redundancy and cooperative governance
Eventually, on this planet of increasing population and not inexhaustible resources, the issue of sustainability will take center stage. We talk about it now, but my guess is that not too far in the future the discussion will take on a more serious and urgent…
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