The Big News from 2019 -what it means for you in 2020 and beyond. The power shutoffs and our focus on community sustainability and resiliency were a major part of our efforts in 2019 and will continue into 2020. The Public Safety Power Shut Off [...]
By Amanda Thibodeau, with Sierra Harvest - a local non-profit for "Fresh Food Education & Access" with their office in Nevada City, CA. Learn a Fall Permaculture technique called Sheet Mulching Hi Sustainable Energy groupies, this is your friends at Sierra Harvest chiming in. Sierra [...]
POWER OUTAGES - Part 4 Adding Battery Storage To An Existing Solar System As covered in Parts 1 through 3 of this series, there are all kinds of options to serve your backup power needs in the event of a power outage. To the uninitiated, adding [...]
Electric vs Hybrid vs Combustion Vehicles What’s the best choice and why does it matter? With all the new types of propulsion options for vehicles on the market it can be confusing as to which is the best choice. What are the differences between conventional [...]
California’s Quantum Leap in Building Standards Last May, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced a ground-breaking update to the state’s building energy efficiency standards. Starting January 1, 2020, all new buildings in California must have solar. The standards (according to Title 24, Part 6, Building [...]
Q and A With Ray This Q & A pertains to California's Quantum Leap in Building Standards. The questions answered here come from inquiries into concepts, technologies and standard specific rhetoric found in our article on California's rooftop solar mandate. What are heat pump water heaters? [...]
If you are curious about the details of your property or a property you are interested in buying, you can look up the property on Nevada County’s GIS on the county’s website. The county has a transparent, open access database with detailed information on property [...]
Last year the Nevada County Building Department changed its approach to building code enforcement to increase compliance. Rather than inspect properties when a complaint was made, which was the previous policy, now county officials are inspecting properties based on awareness of information about possible code [...]
Do you have friends or family members who aren’t convinced that renewable energy is a win-win for human health and the economy? Share with them some scientific evidence to credibly explain the benefits of renewable energy and distinguish fact from fiction. All too often, the [...]
This spring, Energy Savings Solutions, a free public workshop series taught by industry experts, will provide practical information on building-scale energy efficiency to complement the Grass Valley Energy Action Plan. The goal of the series is to educate and inspire community members to take action [...]
