Sustainable Development Focus
The Mercury News - Mar 5 Cities reluctant to approve housing on BART’s expansive parking lots and other land owned by the rail system would be forced to allow it under Assembly Bill 2923, a new bill announced on Monday. The legislation would require BART to approve new standards for housing development that reflect the ambitious goals the system recently set. Local governments would have two years to update their zoning restrictions accordingly. If a city or county failed to comply, it could lose control over projects on BART-owned land. The proposal is the latest attempt by Sacramento lawmakers to encourage, nudge, or outright force local governments to allow more homes near public transportation amid rising housing costs and traffic congestion. Another pending proposal, Senate Bill 827 by Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would require cities statewide to allow more apartments and condominiums within a half mile of transit. In 2016, BART adopted a goal of building 20,000 homes throughout the system by 2040, with 7,000 units, or 35 percent, to be offered at below-market-rate. But delays, community resistance, and inertia threaten to undercut that vision, the bill’s proponents say.
GreenBiz - Mar 5 More than 1,000 solar panels top States Logistics Services’ headquarters and packaged food operation in Buena Park, California, providing it with 100 percent renewably powered electricity, helped occasionally by renewable energy credit purchases. Trucks moving in and out of the warehouse run on biodiesel fuel when weather conditions allow, reducing carbon emissions from its transit-heavy operation. Further, the packing, sorting, and repacking done inside the logistics facilities involve a sophisticated recycling program that leaves only 15 percent of material not reused or recycled. Clif Bar & Company, one of States Logistics’ main customers, has been evangelizing sustainability during its long working relationship with States Logistics, convincing it of the benefits of Clif’s 100 percent renewable energy electricity sourcing and waste-free operations. Before long, States Logistics decided to follow with similar steps.
Solar Power World - Mar 6 Pardee Homes San Diego has opened its first all-solar master-planned community in Santee, California. Upon completion, the Weston community will include 415 single-family homes across 204 acres and four neighborhoods: Sandstone and Lake Ridge by Pardee Homes San Diego and Prism and Talus by TRI Pointe Homes Southern California. While Pardee Homes San Diego has offered solar options to buyers in its communities for more than a decade, this is the company’s first master-planned community in which each of the homes in all four neighborhoods will include solar for purchase or lease, increasing energy efficiency and cost savings for homeowners. Pardee Homes San Diego and TRI Pointe Homes have partnered with SunPower to equip every home at Weston with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient solar panels.
Solar Industry Magazine - Mar 1 Visa has announced a new commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy across its global operations by the end of 2019. As part of this commitment, announced in conjunction with last week’s Climate Leadership Conference in Denver, Visa is joining the RE100 initiative, a collaborative, global platform developed by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP to increase corporate demand for renewable energy. To reach its goal, Visa says it will pursue an approach that emphasizes “immediate action” across its global facilities portfolio. Today, an estimated 35 percent of Visa’s global electricity consumption comes from a mix of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower.
Renewable Energy World - Mar 5 Illinois regulators last week approved a plan by Exelon Corp. subsidiary Commonwealth Edison Co. (ComEd) to build one of the first utility-scale microgrid clusters in the U.S. in the Bronzeville district on Chicago's South Side. According to ComEd, the neighborhood was selected following a comprehensive study to identify an overall resiliency metric for small sections of ComEd’s northern Illinois service territory and map locations where a microgrid could best address both security and resiliency. The project will serve an area that includes 10 critical service facilities.
