California's long history of fire suppression has led to a massive accumulation of fire fuels. An increasingly warming climate promises the increased occurrence of severe and intense wildfires. California natural resource agencies and other stakeholders recognize the importance of fuels reduction efforts, as made evident by recent policy development focused on expanding the use of prescribed and cultural fire. Due to the complex nature of implementing prescribed burning projects, barriers will have to be addressed in order to drastically up-scale acres treated.
California is in the midst of a housing crisis, prompting the State and local governments to identify sites for development and secure funding to build homes for residents at all income levels. State law requires local governments to adopt a Housing Element that plans for housing for all income levels within areas with suitable conditions; however, supply is not meeting demand in adequate time.
California’s building sector accounts for 25% of all emissions in the State of California, making building decarbonization a crucial component of the state’s plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. Within this sector, rental housing poses a unique set of challenges.
AbstractIn the face of limited resources to develop large-scale clean energy projects and the growing demand for both clean water and energy, California (CA) should prioritize solar projects that are constructed above CA’s aqueduct. This brief analyzes new cutting-edge research that suggests placing solar panels over water canals has significantly more benefits than traditional solar deployment and can substantially reduce the amount of water that evaporates during transportation.
Electric vehicle (EV) imports in Nepal have increased significantly in recent years, primarily driven by the government’s tax and loan financing incentives to boost the market share for EVs. While this effort remains pivotal in steering the country’s decarbonization trajectory and improving air quality, ignoring the looming issue of EV battery waste management can undermine its overall success.
Synthetic textile microfibers are one of the largest sources of microplastic pollution in California’s marine ecosystems. Microfibers represent over 90% of all microplastics consumed by marine wildlife, and ingestion of microfibers by animals is harmful to wildlife and ecosystems at large. Each year, up to 48.5 million pounds of microfibers enter California’s lands and waters from washing machines.
California’s SB 1383 addresses methane pollution by requiring jurisdictions to divert organic waste from landfills. To meet the bill’s requirements, many jurisdictions signed exclusive franchise agreements with industrial waste haulers to collect garbage, recycling, and organic waste. These agreements inadvertently exclude community composters from collecting organic waste in their communities. Community composters provide desirable environmental, social, and economic outcomes compared to industrial alternatives.
On a global scale, the United States is one of the largest producers of electronic waste (e-waste). This has negative implications for environmental quality and public health as e-waste contains toxins such as mercury and lead. There is an absence of federal legislation that manages e-waste, leaving recycling and disposal open-ended and up to the discretion of its owner, with the exception of some state regulations. Poor management of electronic waste therefore degrades various ecosystems and disrupts communities nearby disposal sites due to leakage.
Supply chains connect consumer activity in California (CA) to human rights violations and environmental destruction abroad. This brief summarizes weaknesses of U.S. supply chain regulations regarding human rights abuse and biodiversity loss, highlights stronger legislation from the European Union (EU), and presents recommendations for CA to adopt supply chain regulation in the absence of adequate federal management.
California’s renewable energy journey has been remarkable and the popularity of “rooftop solar” has played a major role in it. For over two decades, this has been driven by the State’s Net energy metering (NEM) policy which has gone through multiple revisions since its introduction in 1996. This policy brief discusses a few urgent equity issues with the latest NEM 3.0 rate design and proposes some tweaks. First, an increase in both the fixed ‘grid participation’ charge and the variable price paid for electricity exports to the grid are proposed.
