Resources
A broad category of content focused on resources in cities.
Examples: energy, water, food systems, resource management
Sustainable Cities Require Urban Agriculture
Growing urbanization goes hand in hand with growing consumer demand for food Cities are where we find large concentrations of consumers for the end-product of our food systems and it is the responsibility of cities to ensure that all their inhabitants are food-secure....
Best States to add Solar Power and Wind Energy
A massive 16 GW of renewable energy (RE) was installed in the United States in 2016, adding more new electricity generation than from coal, nuclear, and natural gas combined. This growth in renewables was driven by commercial and industrial (C&I) users like...
Tangled up in Blockchain: Blockchain, communities and their global implications for a new energy paradigm
The promise: Off grid communities producing and sharing resilient, cost-effective solar energy without an electricity supplier, and generating a SolarCoins as added income…. Communities in major cities choosing the price or type of electricity generation moment by...
2030 Districts: High Performance Building Districts Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships
Our cities can be the cornerstone of the green circular economy, supporting resilient societies and inclusive communities with universal access to public services and economic opportunity. The WBCSD’s cornerstone Vision 2050 report calls for laying out a pathway to a...
Schools Save Millions with Solar + Storage
The 125,000 public schools in the U.S., kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12), spend $8 billion annually on energy. School districts are installing energy efficiency, solar, and energy storage to reduce energy cost, freeing more money for better education. Schools...
SCE Replaces Nukes and Gas with Renewables + Storage
Southern California Edison (SCE) serves 15 million people in Southern California. SCE’s power generators and over 12,000 employees keep on the lights and charge 100,000 electric vehicles. SCE delivers reliable electricity in the face of enormous challenges. Two large...
People Power: How Residents of Northern Manhattan are Creating an Energy Revolution
The heat is on: This past July was the hottest month on record; the summer of 2016 was one of the five hottest the world has ever experienced. These trends have led President Obama to declare climate change a “terrifying” threat for humankind. But, even as leaders...
Tesla and SolarCity: Harbingers of Future Mobility and Energy
In Leonardo DiCaprio’s new documentary film, “Before the Flood,” DiCaprio walks the floor of Tesla’s new Gigafactory while he talks with Elon Musk about the future of energy and mobility. Elon Musk is a brilliant visionary. As CEO of Tesla, he has made a reality of...
Dreams Come True on the Cool Block
Ten years ago, a Big Idea constellated in the mind of pro-social behavior change researcher and innovator David Gershon, CEO of the Empowerment Institute. The idea was to operationalize the modest goal of keeping the planet viable into the long-term future and improving the quality of life for humanity at the same time.
Western Electricity from “Cali phobia” to Cooperation
The 80-foot wide display showed California renewables at 41 percent of total generation as I watched for 20 minutes during a warm September morning. I was at the nerve center of California’s grid – CAISO (California Independent Systems Operator). CAISO is a...
China Solar and Wind Surges as Coal Peaks
Kitty Bu starts each morning in Beijing checking the air quality report; many days she must keep her one, three and five year old inside all day. Estimates range from 600,000 to 1.6 million that die prematurely in China each year due to air pollution. Since China’s...