Climate Corps Champions Energy Efficiency

Together with partner Net Impact, EDF's Climate Corps program embeds talented MBA students from top-ranking business schools in leading companies to make the business case for energy efficiency investments in office buildings and data centers.

The program just completed its second year. Overall, the 2009 class of Climate Corps fellows uncovered efficiencies in lighting, computer equipment and heating and cooling systems that could:

• Save more than $54 million in net operational costs over the lifetime of the projects;
• Cut the equivalent of 160 million kilowatt hours of energy use annually—enough to power 14,000 homes;
• Avoid 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year— equivalent to taking more than 12,000 SUVs off the road.

These astounding outcomes were achieved by keeping an eye on no-cost or low-cost solutions that can provide the largest savings.

Read more here.

Laundry to Landscape

SF backs off on graywater permit requirement
Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle, October 22, 2009

San Francisco's Building Inspection Commission says it will coordinate with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to develop a pilot program for residential graywater systems, backing away from a controversial proposal that would have required homeowners to obtain potentially costly permits for systems to recycle household water for use in backyards and gardens.

Commissioners are hopeful that this new tack strikes a balance between graywater proponents frustrated by San Francisco's attempt to alter state codes and city inspectors who feared the do-it-yourself systems would result in a plumbing free-for-all. Complicated graywater systems and those for multi-unit buildings would still require permits and detailed plans.

Read the complete story here.

Perhaps the World's Largest Dam Removal Project

Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement
Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2009

PacifiCorp, a Portland, Oregon utility, has consented to the removal of four hydroelectric dams that for decades have been the subject of bitter feuding among farmers, fishermen, and tribal interests along the Klamath River.

The dams, which range in height from 33 feet to 173 feet and are spread across 65 miles of the Klamath, have impaired water quality and blocked a 300-mile migratory route for salmon for a century.

Removal won't begin until 2020, but is seen as vital to restoring California's dwindling salmon stocks.

Backers say the decommissioning -- which still must be approved by the federal government -- would be the nation's largest and most complex dam removal project. The tentative agreement was reached after a decade of negotiations among 28 parties.

Read the article here, and in the San Francisco Chronicle here.

More Open Space Saved

Conservationists secure rest of Franklin Canyon
Richard Procter, San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2009

The Muir Heritage Land Trust signed an amended agreement this month that adds 60 acres to the 423 acres of Franklin Canyon the group purchased last year. Franklin Canyon, located in Hercules, has been the target of development projects on several occasions because of the terrain's flat and building-friendly nature.

The land trust had been in continuous negotiation with the property owners, a consortium of investors, since the initial agreement was signed last year. The continued negotiations were a result of the extreme desirability of the final 60 acres, which had been identified as the most easy-to-develop part of the property.

The final acreage was purchased for $830,000. The group will have until June to raise $2.6 million to complete the transaction.

Read the complete story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/14/BAES1985AV.DTL&type=green