Last year on December 5, our friends, supporters and staff gathered at Rinaldo’s and Lalla’s house to celebrate the closing of 2017. It was a lovely evening, and we left the gathering with our hearts full of cheer. But there was also an undercurrent of foreboding as the Thomas Fire had just begun its destructive […]
climate change
Wildfires Tell Us We Already Live in a Climate-Changed World
Once again, California is up in flames. It’s beginning to look like a recurring seasonal phenomena much like hurricane or tornado season in the Southeast and Midwest. The Camp Fire is currently the deadliest wildfire in California’s recorded history at 81 deaths (with ~870 persons still missing). We can only pray that another massive fire […]
Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative Public Meeting
The World Business Academy and the Clean Coalition have teamed up to provide the Montecito community with a sustainable energy solution during times of crisis. When completed, the Montecito Community Microgrid Initiative (MCMI) will ensure that vital services remain running during emergencies, and serve as a replicable model for other communities looking to transition California […]
Learn All About the Montecito Community Microgrid at a Public Meeting on Nov. 14
One of the most important ongoing projects of the World Business Academy is the Montecito Community Microgrid, an energy system that would deliver local energy daily and power emergency facilities during outages caused by extreme weather events and system failures. A Community Microgrid is a new approach for designing and operating an electric grid based […]
SCE Acknowledges Causation of Thomas Fire: a Prelude to Public Safety Power Shutoffs
On October 30, 2018, Southern California Edison (SCE) issued a press release acknowledging that their equipment started the Thomas Fire in at least one of the two locations identified as flashpoints. This admission is material, as SCE will now be exposed to an undetermined amount of liability from a variety of claims. SCE simultaneously disclosed […]
UPDATE on PCIA CTA: Expect Negative Impact on Community Choice Movement (Sigh!)
Thanks to all our members who sent opposition letters to their California legislators and the acting Public Utility Commissioners earlier this month. For those not familiar with this specific call to action, the letters urged the CPUC not adopt a decision that would dramatically increase costs associated with the Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) charge, […]
Microgrids: Our Energy Future
Stand in the future you wish to see. Then look back from there at the path and the choices that helped us solve our challenges, regenerate our natural systems, and learn to live in harmony with the planet and each other. Take four minutes to explore this way of thinking. This short, animated film […]
Beyond the Burn: California Wildfires and Social Justice – What No One’s Talking About
By Robert Perry, Director of Energy Research [This is Part II in our series of Beyond the Burn and how California’s climate change-induced fire threats present a replicable opportunity for economic growth and social justice. If you haven’t read the first installment, you can find it here] I ended the first installment in this series with […]
California Advances in Worldwide Sprint Towards Renewable Energy
By Robert Perry California lawmakers passed critical environmental legislation last week, burnishing the state’s reputation as a progressive leader in the fight against climate change and shining a spotlight on the federal administration’s disdain for climate science. Here’s what will be waiting for Gov. Brown’s signature: SB100 – The Big Kahuna: SB100 sets California on […]
Call to Action: Tell BLM to Stop Drilling and Fracking in Central California!
The Trump Administration is on the move to expose roughly 273,000 acres of federal public lands and mineral rights, to hydraulic fracking and oil drilling in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. The watchdog organization, Los Padres ForestWatch, performed an analysis of official GIS data that pointed to the administration’s efforts and disclosed […]
Thinking Beyond the Burn: Adaptive Strategies for Climate Change
By Robert Perry, Director of Energy Research (This is a two-part series by Robert Perry exploring how California’s climate change induced fire threats presents a replicable opportunity for economic growth and social justice) The Gulf Coast has its hurricanes. The East Coast, torrential rainfall (and sometimes hurricanes). For California, the primary threat from climate change […]
AB 813: Regional Grid Not The Best Path to Fight Climate Change
World Business Academy Opposes Proposed Bill to Create a Multi-State Power Grid In energy, there is only one end game: transitioning our planet away from fossil fuels to a resilient, renewable energy system that reliably provides energy with little to no impact to the environment. How we get there is an entirely different matter, and […]
