Davisite logo
Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

Category: Environment

  • Great turnout for Davis’s climate strike

    Davis's students lead the way

    By Roberta Millstein

    Joining climate strikes around the world, yesterday Davis's students led a march of their own, starting at the Veteran's Memorial Center and heading down B Street to collect in Central Park for speeches and activities.  Our students did us proud, with many Davisite adults showing up to support them as well.  Although the concerns and fears expressed are serious and real, it was a positive event in that we were all out there to connect with each other and work for a common cause. 

    This is not the first climate-related event in Davis and hopefully it will not be the last. In particular, we need to press the City to follow through on its Climate Emergency Resolution of March 2019. 

    Here are some pictures from the beginning, middle, and end of the event.

    (more…)

  • VCE Tops Renewable Goals – Delivers Cleaner Energy at No Extra Cost to Customers

    VCE(From press release) Valley Clean Energy, Yolo County’s public power supplier, reports that even cleaner and greener energy has been delivered to its electricity customers than was projected at last year’s launch.

    “One of our core goals is to supply Woodland, Davis and unincorporated Yolo County with cost-competitive clean energy,” said Tom Stallard, Valley Clean Energy board chair and a Woodland City Council member. “I’m happy to report that this year VCE has exceeded this goal while still matching PG&E’s rates.”

    An analysis of VCE’s 2018 power content revealed that the community choice energy program’s Standard Green electricity portfolio included 48 percent renewable energy (all from wind power sources) and was 85 percent carbon-free, Interim General Manager Mitch Sears reports. The majority of VCE customers receive Standard Green energy.

    That exceeds original VCE program goals of 42 percent renewable energy, with 75 percent of the total carbon-free, Sears says.

    (more…)

  • Speaker on Davis 2060: Trees or Tucson?

    Treelined-street(From press release) Unshaded asphalt will burn you: it reaches over 150 degrees in the summer.

    So, with forecasts now estimating Davis temperatures will rise to rival today’s deserty Tuscon, shade trees will determine if we will still be able to walk, bike, or even comfortably wait for a bus on summer afternoon.  Or even walk your bare-footed dog.

    The Davis’s climate resiliency plans will be putting shade trees front and center, and to that end the City has obtained a ½ million dollar grant to develop a new Forestry Master Plan.

    (more…)

  • Valley Clean Energy meeting, Thursday, Sept. 12

    VCE(From press release) The Valley Clean Energy board of directors will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, in the Council Chambers at Woodland City Hall, 300 First St. in Woodland. The meeting is open to the public.

    The board — which includes members of the Woodland and Davis city councils and the Yolo County Board of Supervisors — is expected to adopt residential time-of-use rates and receive an update on potential acquisition of PG&E wire and pole assets.

    The meeting agenda is available at https://valleycleanenergy.org/board-meetings/.

    VCE, the local electricity provider, launched in June 2018 and provides cleaner energy at competitive rates to 55,000 local customers.

  • VCE Costs the Same as PG&E But Delivers More

    By Tom Stallard

    It’s been a long hot summer, but those cool autumn days aren’t too far off…

    And thanks to Valley Clean Energy, local electricity customers are not paying any more to run their air-conditioners than they would have paid under PG&E. At the same time, they are reaping the environmental benefits of a greener energy portfolio.

    Community choice programs like VCE can keep their rates competitive by buying electricity through a process that encourages private energy companies to compete to provide clean, renewable power.

    (more…)

  • VCE public workshop, studies purchase of PG&E Assets

    VCE(From press releases)

    Valley Clean Energy Sponsors Public Workshop on Proposed New Residential Time-of-Use Rates

    Valley Clean Energy (VCE) will conduct a public workshop this month to share information on proposed changes to PG&E’s residential electricity rates based on time of use. VCE is considering whether or not these rates would be advantageous to VCE customers and would like to hear from its customers. PG&E staff and VCE representatives will be present to discuss the proposed changes and answer questions.

    The public workshop will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, in Woodland City Council Chambers, 300 First St. in downtown Woodland.

    (more…)

  • Valley Clean Energy responds to Woodland utility fraud news

    VCE(From press release) Valley Clean Energy — the official, locally governed electricity provider for Woodland, Davis and unincorporated Yolo County — would like to reassure its customers that recent reports of utility fraud are not connected to the agency in any way.

    Valley Clean Energy (VCE) began offering customers clean, low-carbon power in June 2018 and currently serves more than 54,000 customer accounts. The not-for-profit public agency reinvests its revenues back into the communities it serves.

    Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig issued a news release Friday, Aug. 2, to warn local residents to be aware of utility service providers who are switching customers’ gas or electric service without consent or authorization.

    (more…)

  • Valley Clean Energy announces net energy metering and dividend program

    VCE(From press release) The Valley Clean Energy (VCE) board of directors took big strides last month to fulfill two major promises to its customers.

    The board voted unanimously to begin including Net Energy Metered (NEM) solar customers into VCE service starting in January 2020, and additionally voted to launch a Dividend Program this fall, designed to share revenues with customers when VCE meets its financial goals.

    Valley Clean Energy is a not-for-profit public agency that provides electricity service to customers in Davis, Woodland and the unincorporated areas of Yolo County.

    (more…)

  • Destruction of mature trees at WDAAC

    Tree-stump

    California black walnut stump after removal. Tree was north of Covell Blvd. and along the west side of the West Davis Active Adult Community development site.

    By Greg McPherson and Larry Guenther

    On a global scale, planting billion of trees to combat climate change will be for naught if we don’t stop clearcutting the Amazon and other forests. The same idea applies on a local scale. Tree Davis’s upcoming planting of 1,000 trees will matter very little if healthy, mature trees are removed from development sites. Large amounts of carbon dioxide stored in these big, old trees is rapidly released after removal, whereas it takes many years for young trees to acquire biomass and accumulate carbon.

    In November Davis voters approved Measure L, which established Baseline Project Features to guide development of the West Davis Active Adult Community (WDAAC) property, which is located west of the Sutter-Davis Hospital and north of Covell Blvd. In early June we noticed that 14 large, old California black walnut trees were among a host of trees removed from the site. We wondered why these veteran trees were not protected in a greenspace buffer along Covell Blvd.

    (more…)

  • Valley Clean Energy Community Advisory Committee meeting

    VCEThe public is invited to the next meeting of the Valley Clean Energy Community Advisory Committee. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 25, in the Woodland City Council Chambers at 300 First St. in Woodland.

    Advisory committee members will review and discuss PG&E's residential time-of-use proposal, hear an informational presentation on potential local energy efficiency programs and discuss coordination of VCE's 2020 Integrated Resource Plan and Strategic Plan.

    VCE, the local electricity provider, launched a year ago and provides cleaner energy at competitive rates to 55,000 local customers in Davis, Woodland and unincorporated Yolo County. For more information, visit https://valleycleanenergy.org. To receive agendas by email, sign up at https://valleycleanenergy.org/get-in-touch/.