Author Archive

Fraud hits California wind industry

08/01/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

The California Energy Commission has accused wind turbine manufacturing company, DyoCore Inc., of misrepresenting the performance of a small wind turbine in order to qualify the product for a state rebate.
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Tags: california energy commission, dyocore inc, fraud, rebate, wind energy
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

First time farmers get help from USDA

07/25/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

The Chronicle’s Tara Duggan is doing a great series on small-scale farms. She delves into efforts by the USDA to encourage “new farmers to get in the field.”
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Tags: family farm, , , small-scale farm, usda
Posted in Living, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

Brown’s invite-only clean energy conference

07/25/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

A two-day, invite-only conference to flesh out California Governor Jerry Brown’s plans to reach 20,000 MW of new renewable energy in the state by 2020 began today. With the budget fight behind him, Brown says clean energy is his first priority.
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Tags: california governor jerry brown, clean energy, conference, solar energy
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

CA high-speed rail may grind to a hault

07/25/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

As Congress wrestles over the national debt, funding for California’s ambitious statewide high-speed rail system is on the chopping block. House Republicans have removed all monies for the project and reports from a panel reviewing the plan have questioned the viability of its business plan.
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Posted in The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines, Transportation | Comments Off

Leatherback sea turtles win critical habitat

07/06/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger
Leatherback sea turtles win critical habitat

The endangered leatherback sea turtle enjoyed a huge conservation victory this week. The hulking, jellyfish-eating reptile will be protected in ocean waters off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington due to a settlement filed by the National Marine Fisheries Service and conservation groups.
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Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Featured, Policy | 1 Comment »

It’s a good time of year to spot urban wildlife

06/06/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger
It’s a good time of year to spot urban wildlife

For 35 years Janet Kessler has lived in San Francisco and been an avid early morning walker, exploring the city’s parks with her dogs and observing the busy transition between night and day for urban wildlife.
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Tags: janet kessler, parks, photography, , urban wildlife, viewing urban wildlife
Posted in Nature | 4 Comments »

PG&E reduces rates for its biggest consumers

05/27/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

PG&E is in for another spate of public criticism. This time it will be over the utility’s new usage rates, which were approved by regulators on Thursday. Homeowners consuming the most electricity will pay less per kilowatt hour than they did previously, causing critics to accuse PG&E of incentivizing wasteful energy habits. Still, the...
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Tags: energy consumption, new usage rates,
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, Living, Policy, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

A bedazzled Bay Area night sky in pictures

05/23/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Nature photographers should check out this photo essay of Bay Area shooter Steven Christenson’s nighttime photos taken in Fremont. He discusses technique and is co-founder of the Bay Area Night Photography group. Pretty amazing. QUEST on KQED Public Media.
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Tags: , fremont, night photography, steven christenson
Posted in Nature, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

Discussion of CA state park closures and high speed rail

05/23/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

This morning on KQED’s Forum two topics close to WOW readers’ hearts are under discussion. First the impact of the California state park closures, followed by a look at the state’s embattled high-speed rail plans. Listen to the latter live right here: http://www.kqed.org/radio/listen/
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Tags: california high-speed rail, forum, , state park closure
Posted in Living, Nature, Policy, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines, Transportation | Comments Off

Scientists may have found method for earthquake prediction

05/23/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

By observing chemical changes in the upper atmosphere, scientists say they may be able to predict large earthquakes days before they occur. Researchers have detected a rise in various gas concentrations in 24 different earthquakes of a magnitude greater than 7. But other scientists argue the source of the increased concentration is highly debatable...
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Tags: , earthquake prediction, gas, radon
Posted in Nature, The Daily Catch: Bay Area Headlines | Comments Off

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Field Notes Blog

Report: San Francisco faces water-related dangers

San Francisco  has been identified as one of the most vulnerable cities in the nation when it comes to water-related impacts of climate change....
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Builders cheer demise of California environmental law

Upon attending the West Coast Green events at the Moscone Center in San Francisco this week, I was thrilled to find out that Governor...
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Recycling carpets in California will save landfill space

Of the myriad of things cramming California landfills, discarded carpets are taking up lots of space. About 400 million pounds are tossed each year,...
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Way Out West is a news site for the Bay Area dedicated to daily coverage of local green news.

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