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Congratulations to Self-Help Credit Union and Climate United on their $7B award from the EPA's National Clean Investment Fund. These funds will be deployed by activating a national network of lenders to offer affordable and accessible clean-energy lending, especially to communities that have been disproportionately harmed by climate change and pollution. https://lnkd.in/gFH8JM8X

https://lnkd.in/g8Pq6U7R Pacific Gas and Electric Company skyrocketing electricity costs have shoved monthly utility bills higher, a financial jolt that has infuriated a growing number of the company’s customers. Starting in early January, PG&E monthly bills averaged roughly $294.50 a month for the typical residential customer who receives combined electricity and gas services, according to estimates provided by the company to this news organization. That combined bill was 22.3% higher than the average monthly charges that went into effect the year before, at the start of January 2023.

https://lnkd.in/g_mNxVmE Pathetic ad campaign by Stellantis and Dodge.

https://lnkd.in/guUasQdq Great kickoff presentation by Dr. Arun Majumdar, Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

https://lnkd.in/gSuB6B3U Does PG&E think ratepayers are stupid? It's time for a complete overhaul of PG&E's oversight and compensation structure. "I'm so angry with the whole state of affairs," she said. "Just far beyond what's reasonable and giving money to stockholders and cutting back on the solar program and what they pay out, which kinda killed the whole solar program." A month after bills went up, PG&E announced its profits for 2023 surged to over $2.2 billion, a jump of almost 25%. But PG&E representatives at Friday's event said there's no connection to rate increases and their earnings.

https://lnkd.in/g2i8nj6q We need to pressure the CPUC and IOUs like PG&E to adopt "reconductoring" ASAP. Restringing transmission lines with more advanced wires, a process known as “reconductoring,” has the potential to double the amount of electricity our existing transmission system can handle, for less than half the price of building new lines. That’s the main finding of a recently published working paper from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Gridlab, an energy consulting firm. There are a few reasons that something as boring and seemingly ubiquitous as power lines are so crucial to the energy transition. Electrifying our cars and homes will increase demand for electricity, and much of the system is already too congested to integrate new wind and solar power plants. Plus, there just aren’t enough lines that run from the sunniest, windiest places to the places where most people actually live. To realize the emission reduction potential of the clean energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, we have to more than double the rate of transmission expansion, according to research from Princeton University’s Repeat Project. Clean energy projects already face major delays and are often hit with exorbitant bills to connect to the grid. A study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory called “Queued Up” found that at the end of 2022, there were more than 10,000 power plant and energy storage projects waiting for permission to connect to the grid — enough to double electricity production in the country. Some 95% of them were zero-carbon resources.

Since 2011, RE-volv has helped bring #solar energy to 66 nonprofits, typically resulting in electricity bill savings of at least 15%, according to the organization. And nonprofits like Garden Valley Neighborhood House, which installed rooftop solar panels in 2022, are now finding it easier than ever before to access cost-saving renewable energy thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Learn more about the IRA and how nonprofits can save money in this World Resources Institute article:

Now is a great time to start planning your water heater replacement with a safer, more efficient alternative. There are new statewide incentives that can help you make the switch to a heat pump water heater at virtually no cost to you when combined with other available rebates. The following programs provide rebates to switch to cleaner, healthier appliances, and more: New incentives available through TECH Clean California make switching to a heat pump water heater more affordable than ever before. If you’ve been considering replacing your gas water heater, now is the time to act. TECH’s heat pump water heater rebate starts at $3,100 and can be stacked with a $2,000 rebate from Peninsula Clean Energy as well as federal tax credits and additional incentives from other regional programs. See other available rebates and incentives here. In many cases, current available combined incentive amounts are high enough to cover the entire installed cost of a heat pump water heater. https://lnkd.in/d9cK9e7N

Looking forward to insights from the United In Sustainability conference #UIS2023

This past Friday I spent a wonderful (and hot!) afternoon in Monterey with my former bosses and mentors, Niels Reimers and Katharine Ku. As I contemplate that together we cumulatively represent nearly a century of bringing university innovations forward for society's use and benefit, it brings me tremendous satisfaction to have been part of the Stanford University team that they led. The ethos of their long leadership - "doing the right thing" and "it's not about the money" - is all the more salient in view of our societal and existential challenges. I feel very privileged to be carrying on the impactful work that they still inspire me to do.