A University of California, Davis laboratory strives for efficiencies (Based on a personal visit 10-17–16) To accelerate development and commercialization of efficient heating, cooling, and energy distribution solutions through stakeholder engagement, innovation, R&D, education and outreach. That’s WCEC’s Mission Statement.  It reflects a nexus of university capacity, research and development, and industry effort in the search […]

Condensed from “City of Santa Monica News” 10-27–16 Santa Monica’s vote for a 2017 Zero Net Energy Ordinance is an update to its Green Building Ordinance, which is California’s first.  It affects single family homes.  There are also non-ZNE requirements that force multi-family and high rise structures to use between 10 and 15 percent less […]

Reliance on oil is costing states billions, group says Sacramento Bee 10-29-16 BY MARK GLOVER mglover@sacbee.com RICHARD VOGEL The Associated Press— Los Angeles is shrouded in early morning coastal fog in August. Southern California had a smoggy summer and hospitals reported an increase of people with breathing problems. An American Lung Association report blamed petroleum […]

A high-tech government facility adds its (first ever) geo heat pumps at Edwards AFB for its fuel processing lab. The first ever  geothermal heat pumps at Edwards Air Force Base has landed on the high desert near Rosamond, California.  This site of aviation history has been pivotal in the development of all kinds of high speed, high altitude aircraft, […]

An abandoned quarry lake saves the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority $430,000 per year for airport terminal cooling.   The former Hoover Quarry is a 43-acre lake located east of Donelson Pike and Nashville International Airport (BNA) Runway 2R/20L. The average depth of the quarry lake is 150 feet, containing approximately 1.5 billion gallons of water. At […]

  A hybrid geothermal borefield with supplemental boilers and cooling towers results in major energy reduction for a growing campus. On the western edge of Colorado on the river of the same name rests the City of Grand Junction at 4,600 feet.  The rapidly expanding Colorado Mesa College made a choice to grow toward university […]

Solar is available everywhere and wind (in more places than you thought) to supply distributed generation to power a more renewable grid. The image above shows solar PV panels, wind turbines, and high voltage transmission lines in the same photo.  We are on the path away from centralized generation plants feeding high voltage transmission in […]

A Clean Air Regulatory Advocate For Millions in the S.F. Bay Area  The Mission Statement for BAAQMD reads as follows: The Air District aims to create a healthy breathing environment for every Bay Area resident while protecting and improving public health, air quality, and the global climate. That seems like a straightforward determination to improve […]

 A Geo Heat Pump Advocate Expresses Love For His Underground Heat Exchanger  Our carbonless ZNE Home (in Perpetuity) CaliforniaGeo 10-16-16 Yes, I know it’s halfway toward crazy to love inanimate objects.  But I’ve got to explain that when my underground heat exchanger can provide perpetual carbonless free energy for our zero net energy house—my love […]

  Recently, in a faraway land few think of, a powerful new agreement was forged to fight climate change.         CaliforniaGeo Reflections on an NYT article: Climate deal to curb gases used as refrigerants BY CORAL DAVENPORT The New York Times Reprinted in the Sacramento Bee, 10-16-16 It took a few years […]