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Energy Entanglements: A Student Project 2022

Final Project for Environment 155 at UCLA for Fall 2022. A webinar involving 1 host and 4 guests discussing the implications of and recommendations for a "just" energy transition. Benjamin Greenstein, Jacqueline Gonzalez Hurtado, Achinthya Poduval, Gredorio Palomera, Aurelie Blanadet

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.

Q&A with Clara Pratte, 2020 Pritzker Award winner

Pratte moved solar energy projects forward with Navajo Power, the company she co-founded to benefit local communities on tribal lands. She also expanded Strongbow Strategies, the professional services and consulting…

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.

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

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.

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. 

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.