| June 10, 2015
Researchers at Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley have developed a state-by-state plan for the United States to generate 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050.
The study – which was published last month in the journal
Energy and Environmental Sciences – calls for major changes to infrastructure as well as current energy consumption practices. The study’s authors outline ways to combat climate change, eliminate air pollution mortality, create jobs, and stabilize energy prices.
“The main barriers are social, political and getting industries to change. One way to overcome the barriers is to inform people about what is possible,” Stanford engineering professor Mark Z. Jacobson said in a press release. “By showing that it’s technologically and economically possible, this study could reduce the barriers to a large scale transformation.”
Less than two days of water quality sampling at local beaches may be all that’s needed to reduce illnesses among millions of beachgoers every year due to contaminated water, according to new Stanford research. The study, published in
Environmental Science & Technology, presents a modeling framework that dependably predicts water quality at beaches after only a day or two of frequent water sampling. The approach, tested in California, could be used to keep tabs on otherwise unmonitored coastal areas, which is key to protecting the well-being of beachgoers and thriving ocean economies worldwide.
Stanford researcher Ryan Searcy collects water samples from a tide pool at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, in Moss Beach, California. (Image credit: Meghan Shea)
There were a lot of people who didn t have water for a long time, Mahood said.
In fact, much of the drinking water system operated by the San Lorenzo Valley Water District that serves Mahood s neighborhood, along with some 7,100 other households, was damaged or destroyed.
Over the past five years or so, hundreds of California drinking water systems have suffered similar fates while struggling with the impacts of the state s increasingly intense climate-driven wildfires.
In 2020 alone, 250 water systems were either damaged by fire or were subject to fire-related public safety power shutoffs, according to Stefan Cajina, who leads the Drinking Water Division for the State Water Resources Control Board s North Coast Section.
Lightning Complex fires caused significant damage to Bay Area drinking water infrastructure
By Kiley Russell
A look back at the CZU Lighting Complex Fires
In total, 86,509 acres burned - 135 square miles. 1,490 structures, many of those homes, were destroyed. An additional 140 structures were damaged.
BEN LOMOND, Calif. - As the CZU Lightning Complex fire bore down on Gail Mahood s tree-shrouded Felton neighborhood last August, she gathered what possessions she could and fled. As I drove away and saw how fast the fire was moving, I didn t have much hope for my home, Mahood recalled.
Thankfully, fire crews saved the little community of 20 or so houses, stopping the blaze within a half-mile of Mahood s home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but the pipes that delivered drinking water from a spring just up the hill were completely destroyed.
Is fire season now a year-round reality? Experts weigh in on extreme Bay Area weather
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A tree is seen after falling on top of Jane Nylund s home in the Montclair area of Oakland, Calif. Tuesday, January 19, 2021 following a night and early morning of extreme winds across the Bay Area and beyond, causing multiple incidents of downed trees, power lines and other damage.Jessica Christian / The Chronicle
Warm temperatures. High winds. Wildfires.
In January.
Many Bay Area residents were caught off-guard this week by the unexpected chain of weather events that left them patching up fences and clearing wind-whipped debris.