Sacramento County Local News: Sustainability


All Local Sustainability News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: California has a goal of 6 million heat pumps cooling and heating buildings by 2030.
6 Million New Heat Pumps: Essential to California's Climate Future

Heat pumps, an energy-efficient way to both heat and cool homes, are a necessary element of California's climate goal of net zero carbon emissions. Here's what they are, how they work, and how to get one.

Image caption: Long-duration energy storage, such as this thermal energy storage facility, allows renewable energy sources to operate at full capacity without overloading the power grid.
How California Leads the Race For Long Duration Energy Storage

Long-duration energy storage is essential if renewables are to become the basis for a future, carbon-neutral power grid. Here's how California is leading the race to store energy from solar, wind, and other clean sources for use whenever it's needed.

Image caption: How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland

California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.

Image caption: Dairy products are California’s top agricultural commodity, but the industry is often criticized for its impact on the environment.
Sustainable Sustenance

California is a leading producer of agricultural crops. So it’s not surprising to find cutting-edge ideas taking root here.

Image caption: Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals

Solar power, and a network of giant battery storage facilities, are playing an essential role in moving California toward its goal of exclusive reliance on renewable energy sources.

Image caption: RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.
California Dirt

What do resource conservation districts protect? Pretty much everything that’s worth saving.

Image caption: Water is a human right under California law, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
Agriculture and Water Shortages in the State’s Breadbasket, Explained

Residential wells are drying up in the state’s main agricultural region at the same time that agricultural businesses consume almost 90 percent of the water there.

Sacramento News and Review logo From Sacramento News and Review...

07/23/2024
Image for display with article titled Sacramento’s First Passive House Sets the Standard for Green Building

In East Sacramento, on a narrow avenue of small, single-story homes, a transformation is underway. An 82-year-old bungalow is becoming the new kid on the block: the first Passive House in the Sacramento region.

Sacramento News and Review logo From Sacramento News and Review...

07/15/2024
Image for display with article titled CleanStart’s Thomas Hall and Christina Granados on the Importance of Community Outreach in Clean-Tech Development

As Sacramento looks to build a more sustainable and inclusive economy, in part thanks to an influx of state funding set to benefit growing sectors, Valley Vision asked residents how they would like this development to look.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/15/2024
Public chargers must be built at an unprecedented pace to meet the target in less than 7 years, and then doubled to 2 million in 2035. The high cost — $120,000 or more for one fast charger— is just one obstacle.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

07/10/2024
Harnessing clean energy is a venture of unprecedented scope in California, bringing big changes to Humboldt and the Central Coast, and requiring 26 ports along the coast.

Sacramento News and Review logo From Sacramento News and Review...

06/18/2024
Image for display with article titled Notes From Under Ground: The Future of the Sacramento Valley’s Water Below the Surface

The region is blessed with bountiful fresh water within its boundaries. Big Chico Creek, Butte Creek, Feather River and the Sacramento River all support incredible and vibrant natural ecosystems. What is not as apparent is the importance of its vast underground water resources, which are connected directly to the surface waters that residents enjoy as part of the daily landscape.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

06/17/2024
Legal rights to use water — particularly those obtained prior to 1914 — lie at the heart of California’s perpetual wrangling over the allocation of increasingly limited water supplies.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

06/13/2024
Tens of thousands of California homeowners, especially those who live in areas at risk of wildfires, have lost their insurance or have to pay more to keep coverage. One after another, major companies have pulled out of the state, many citing the cost of claims.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

06/12/2024
Aiming to store more water and protect the public, legislators are negotiating with the governor to restore $50 million to help repair 42 aging dams throughout the state.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

06/07/2024
The two-day CalMatters Ideas Festival wrapped on June 6 with more than a dozen events examining critical policy issues impacting the lives of millions of Californians.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

05/30/2024
These community projects can give renters and low-income homeowners a chance to go solar, but the PUC’s action is unlikely to give them the option.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

05/27/2024
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, flew more 6,000 miles to Rome this month to deliver a brief speech on climate change at a Vatican-sponsored conference.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

05/23/2024
It’s been almost a half-century since I first heard the term “peripheral canal” uttered by William Gianelli, who was then-Gov. Ronald Reagan’s top water official. The project, in one form or another, had already been kicking around for decades.

California Local Pin Marker From Rio Linda Messenger...

05/21/2024
For the second year, the California Fish and Game Commission is banning salmon fishing in the Sacramento, American, Feather, and Mokelumne rivers.

California Local Pin Marker From CapPublicRadio...

05/15/2024
In its May 14 meeting, the Sacramento City Council unanimously approved a plan to encourage residents and businesses to replace gas appliances with electric.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

04/26/2024
A bill to rein in a proposed monthly fee on California electric bills would let California’s largest for-profit utility companies charge customers $24 per month — with fees as low as $6 for lower-income customers — as a kind of membership fee for the power grid.

California Local Pin Marker From CapPublicRadio...

04/02/2024
The California Department of Water Resources announced the water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack at 110% of the April 1 average.

California Local Pin Marker From Elk Grove News Net...

03/23/2024
Unlike the record low Chinook salmon returns on the Sacramento River this year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife noted a new record for the number of steelhead returning to the Mokelumne River.

Sacramento News and Review logo From Sacramento News and Review...

03/21/2024
Image for display with article titled Wood Pellet Mills in California: A Blessing or a Boondoggle?

Supporters say harvesting trees would thin out the state’s overgrown forests; critics say the wood pellets for heating produce more carbon than coal.

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