Stopping every ton of climate pollution matters
6-minute read
This Week
Stopping every ton of climate pollution matters
New heat pump installs fast at a low price
Now you can lease big home batteries
California wants to build the world’s deepest floating wind farm
PG&E is charging too much for Diablo Canyon nuclear power
Brief climate news
Climate jargon explained
Contacts for Santa Cruz County
Click on the underlined links to learn more.
About me
I’m Rex Sanders, a science writer who’s lived in Santa Cruz County more than 20 years. Each week I check dozens of reliable sources for climate news that affects our County. Focused on how we can create a better future together.
Stopping every ton of climate pollution matters
Car exhaust, from Flickr
Analysis: Even if we go past global overheating temperature “limits,” like 1.5 °C or 2.0 °C, every tenth of a degree makes a big difference. Every ton of climate pollution from carbon dioxide and methane matters. In fact, as temperatures climb, every ton matters more, causing more damage than earlier tons. And adapting to higher temperatures gets much harder. Like installing more and bigger air conditioning, planting different crops in different areas, and mass migration to cooler places.
Plus we will pass certain tipping points, where a tenth of a degree more causes a big increase in damage. Except climate scientists are not exactly sure what those temperatures are. Or how bad the damage will be.
Quotes: “The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more urgent it becomes to stop adding more. It’s something like bleeding: The more blood you’ve already lost, the more dangerous it is to lose more.”
Limitations: While this article was written by a UC Berkeley law professor, he’s studied a lot of climate science. And everything he wrote is backed by decades of scientific research.
Actions: Vote for climate friendly politicians at every level of government, from school boards to President. And ask everyone you know to do the same. Vote with your dollars and buy from companies that actually reduce climate pollution. Pay a little extra every month for the cleanest electricity from the 3Cprime power plan.
And if you can afford it, switch to an electric car or electric truck. They’re much cheaper to run, need far less maintenance, and they’re fun to drive. Switch your home to much cleaner and cheaper-to-run electric appliances. Like heat pump water heaters, induction ranges, and heat pumps for heating and cooling.
Source: Dan Farber, Legal Planet, 4-minute read
New heat pump installs fast at a low price
Merino home heat pump installation, from the article
A San Francisco startup company is taking a new approach to small heat pumps that heat and cool one room. These look good, take about an hour to install, and don’t have a big noisy compressor outside. Just two 6-inch air vents, easily inserted through most walls. Yet they are very quiet. And plug into a normal 120-volt outlet.
The best part might be the fixed price: $3,800 installed. That’s less than other small heat pumps without installation.
“I was shocked when I got a quote for $40,000 to install heat pumps in my own house,” said Mary Ann Rau, CEO of Merino Energy. The company plans to make up to 50,000 systems by next year.
You could install one or two rooms at a time, gradually reducing the natural gas or propane you burn for heating. Which means cleaner indoor air, lower utility bills, and less climate pollution. And these heat pumps should work everywhere in Santa Cruz County.
Adele Peters, Fast Company, 3-minute read
Now you can lease big home batteries
Leased big home batteries installed, from the article
Instead of buying a big home battery for power during blackouts, you can lease one for less money up front. You can even install it yourself, if you are a licensed electrician. Probably best to pay the company to install the batteries for you.
The company reduces your cost by selling some of the battery energy to the electric grid, also helping to reduce climate pollution. Some of the systems can reduce your electric bill buy storing cheap power or rooftop solar power. When the lease ends in 5 years, you can buy the system. No prices on the company website, you must call them.
As with all deals that seem too good to be true, do your homework. Ask to talk to other customers. Compare prices and reputations of other companies. A 5-year loan to buy a system might be cheaper than leasing.
Ben Zientara, PV magazine, 3-minute read
California wants to build the world’s deepest floating wind farm
Site of the planned wind turbine port near Eureka, from the article
A floating wind turbine sits on the surface of the ocean, anchored to the seafloor with strong cables. California chose an area offshore of Eureka to build a big wind farm.
Putting those giant turbines together and towing them out to sea needs a lot of land in a deep harbor. The plan is to build that in Humboldt Bay at an old logging port. Some locals don’t like that idea.
But the closest harbor that could work is about 700 miles south. “It’s only Humboldt and Long Beach,” said development director Rob Holmlund. “So it’s a super bonus that we have great wind out our back door.”
There are other problems to solve. The current Federal administration canceled almost half-a-billion dollars for the port project. The Pacific Ocean gets very deep just offshore. But nobody has installed floating wind turbines in water that deep. The project needs hundreds of miles of new power lines to deliver clean electricity to the rest of California. Including Santa Cruz County.
So the state is continuing the project with available funds, while hoping the next administration provides more support. And that the extra-deep floating wind turbine equipment is ready in time. We need all the cheap clean energy we can get as homes, businesses, factories, cars, and trucks switch to electricity.
Hayley Smith, LA Times, 9-minute read
PG&E is charging too much for Diablo Canyon nuclear power
Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, from the article
In 2022 PG&E cut a deal with the State of California to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running longer. Including a $1.4 billion state loan. And extra charges for all electricity customers in California, not just PG&E customers.
But a new study from UC Santa Barbara says PG&E will come up almost $700 million short repaying the loan. Which taxpayers must cover. And the extra charges weren’t needed at all. Diablo Canyon makes a healthy profit for PG&E. If the increases were canceled over the next three years, customers would save nearly $2 billion.
“Why are we handing out billions and billions of dollars to these utilities?” said Leah Stokes, a professor at UC Santa Barbara. “At a time of record electricity rates, when we are having insane heat waves, and kids could really benefit from air conditioning in their schools.”
The report says: “PG&E has generated three consecutive years of record profits. State legislators can protect California taxpayers and preserve the state budget by having PG&E repay the full loan amount from excess shareholder profits. Ratepayers are currently subsidizing a plant whose revenues exceed its costs.”
Diablo Canyon power produces very little climate pollution directly. But we still don’t have a plan for safely storing it’s highly radioactive waste for tens of thousands of years. The deadly waste at Diablo is sitting outdoors in dozens of giant casks. On the coast, too close to active earthquake faults.
Location of radioactive waste storage casks at Diablo Canyon, modified from free-map.org
Seems like our state legislature and Governor Newsom got fooled again. Or maybe convinced by campaign donations to not look very hard. Ask your state senator and state assembly member to clean up this very expensive mess. And make PG&E shareholders pay for it. Check Contacts for Santa Cruz County below.
Blanca Begert, LA Times, 5-minute read
Brief climate news
Soon batteries will be removed from a Moss Landing building full of them. Same unsafe old design as the batteries that burned in 2025. KSBW, 3-minute read
School kids in Palo Alto are pushing the city to promote induction ranges that reduce air pollution and climate pollution from natural gas stoves. We need this in our county, too. Canary Media, 5-minute read
Watsonville celebrates Earth Week April 15 through 22. Climate action is part of many events. City of Watsonville, 2-minute read
Climate jargon explained
Carbon dioxide (CO2): Main climate pollution gas causing global overheating and climate change
Clean electricity: Cheaper electricity from clean energy
Clean energy: Cheaper energy from the sun, wind, dams, or underground heat, that creates very little air pollution or climate pollution
Climate friendly: Better for our climate than other choices
Climate pollution: Gases in the air that trap the Sun’s heat and cause climate change, mainly carbon dioxide and methane, also called greenhouse gases or carbon pollution
Electric car: Car that runs on an electric motor and a large rechargeable battery
Electric truck: Truck that runs on an electric motor and a large rechargeable battery
Floating wind turbine: Wind turbine that floats in the ocean, anchored to the seafloor with strong cables
Global overheating: Rapid increase in worldwide temperatures starting around 1970, also called global warming
Heat pump: Two-way air conditioner that can cool or heat a building, heat a hot water tank, or boil water for factories
Induction range: Very efficient electric stove that uses magnetism to heat pans
Methane (CH4): Climate pollution gas 80 times worse than carbon dioxide, second-worst cause of climate change, but it doesn’t last as long
Natural gas: Fuel pumped from underground, almost all methane, that adds climate pollution when it leaks, and when it’s burned for power or heat
Nuclear power plant: Power plant using a nuclear reactor to make electricity
Nuclear reactor: Makes power using mined uranium while creating radioactive waste that’s dangerous for thousands of years
Radioactive waste: Hazardous waste from mining, refining, and using nuclear fuel
Rooftop solar power: Solar panels mounted on a roof, supplying electricity
Tipping point: Global temperature that would quickly cause a big, permanent change for the worse
Wind farm: Group of wind turbines in one area
Wind turbine: Tall machine with long fan-like blades that makes clean electricity when the wind blows
More at climatejargon.com
Contacts for Santa Cruz County
City council: Watsonville, Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, or Capitola, depending on where you live
County supervisors
County Resource Conservation District
Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC)
Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) and PG&E
State Assembly: Gail Pellerin, Dawn Addis, or Robert Rivas, depending on where you live
State Senate: John Laird
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Air Resources Board (CARB), and Energy Commission (CEC)
Governor Gavin Newsom
U.S. Congress: Jimmy Panetta or Zoe Lofgren, depending on where you live
U.S. Senate: Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff.
Unrelated advice
Redundancy is always more reliable than attempts at perfect.
Stewart Brand