California Center for Sustainable Communities

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VIDEO: Climate Change and Housing: Strategies To Cope With the Impacts of Wildfires

Panel discussion by the California Association of Realtors:Panel discussion by the California Association of Realtors: featuring CCSC's Director Stephanie Pincetl, Karen Collins, Assistant Vice President, The American Property Casualty Insurance Association and Chief Jim McDougald, Division Chief, State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. California’s commitment to advancing ambitious climate goals cannot ignore the impact of wildfires on communities across the state and the need for protection, policies, and resiliency measures to mitigate the most damaging effects of climate change. As wildfires and heat waves become commonplace concerns in the state, it’s clear that California needs a comprehensive action plan to reduce wildfire risk, improve environmental conditions, adapt insurance needs, and accelerate action to combat climate change. Additionally, it’s important to consider how we can empower property owners, homeowners, local governments, and pertinent stakeholders to proactively reduce wildfire hazards to minimize the loss of property and life and be active participants in advancing effective solutions. Among the key approaches to wildfire resiliency and preparation is collaboration with the insurance industry to ensure protective policies are available and affordable for all Californians who are at risk of climate change-intensified wildfires. Join us for a wide-ranging discussion that will cover such topics, including climate change trends, efforts to build resiliency to protect communities, and the future of housing development in a wildfire-prone state.


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Most California incentive programs meant to reduce energy use have the opposite effect

UCLA’s Stephanie Pincetl, another co-author, said part of the problem may be due to the Jevons paradox, a phenomenon that occurs when a technological advance or government policy improves the efficiency of how a resource is used but leads to an increase in consumption as a direct result of that efficiency gain. “People think they can increase consumption without increasing their bills, so they use more,” said Pincetl, who is director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA.



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Climate Change, Extreme Heat, & the Future of LA’s Electric Power System

For LA residents climate change is no longer a distant or abstract concept because its effects are already being felt throughout the region. During just the past three years, for example, several new record high maximum daily temperatures have been recorded in numerous LA neighborhoods, with Van Nuys experiencing 118 °F in 2018 and more recently, in 2020, parts of Woodland Hills enduring temperatures of 120 °F. These developments are clearly illustrated in the figure below which shows the percentage of sampled maximum daily temperatures within the LA-Basin that were above different high heat thresholds for each year from 2005 to 2020.


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A Just Transition: Envisioning the Next 40 Years

This webinar by Physicians for Social Responsibility raises some of the fundamental issues that face the energy transition and highlights dangerous course we are on today.  Highly recommended for an in-depth analysis of what needs to change -- Stephanie Pincetl, director of CCSC


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THE ABC’S OF ELECTRIFYING YOUR GAS APPLIANCES: A Guidebook for Households

While there are many benefits to electrifying your gas appliances, there are also costs. The costs and benefits are different for each type of appliance. We wrote this Guidebook as a starting point, to help you begin thinking about these decisions. Many people can’t afford to replace all their gas appliances, so this Guidebook can help you prioritize your choices, to make the best decision for you and your family. Your decision to electrify will depend on what is most important to you, such as improving your indoor air quality, keeping your utility costs low, or helping to slow climate change and improving outdoor air quality.


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Dr. Pincetl spoke with the Environmental Science without Borders UCLA Chapter

Getting Beyond Tropes: Cities for the 21st Century Dr. Pincetl spoke to the Environmental Science without Borders (ESWB), a subsidiary of UCLA's Center for Diverse Leadership in Science (CDLS), which connects students and early-career scientists from around the globe, regarding her research on urban metabolism water and energy policy, habitat conservation efforts, and the impact of land use in conjunction with climate change and climate policies. 


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The Case for Gas Bans and Residential Building Electrification: Equity Perspectives on an Emerging Socio-Technical Energy Transition

“Natural gas bans” refer to a diversity of municipal building code changes that disallow certain uses of natural gas in new residential buildings. Gas bans vary in terms of their provisions, but all are intended, along with complementary building electrification programs, to limit the amount of fossil fuels that must be extracted, transported, and burned to meet residential energy needs, thus reducing carbon emissions from buildings, which currently account for approximately 30 percent of the US’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.