California Case Studies
This tab includes case studies of adaptation efforts in California communities.
65 results are shown below.
Resource
2018
In early 2018 the Port of Long Beach, in conjunction with Schneider Electric, began planning a microgrid solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project. The project will enhance reliability and resiliency of the port’s electricity supply, and reduce the port’s carbon footprint, while simultaneously strengthening local workforce development initiatives, and providing paid, on-the-job training to port workers. By powering the port’s electric terminal equipment and reducing its reliance on diesel generators and the grid, the project reduces the port’s GHG emissions footprint and criteria air pollutant emissions. The microgrid implementation will use union labor from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, with paid training hours to fill workers’ knowledge gaps in installing comparable microgrids. Moreover, the project enlists and provides educational experience to students from the University of California - Irvine, Advanced Power and Energy program in analyzing its performance data. Funding for the plan comes from a $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC), combined with $2.12 million in matched funds from the Port of Long Beach. The grant requires that the project demonstrate benefits to electricity customers in the local grid in the form of enhanced reliability, lower costs, or improved safety. An overriding objective of all CEC grant projects, is to “lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs to overcome barriers to achieving the state’s statutory energy goals.” As such, the project must document lessons learned in implementation and maintenance in promotion of replicability of similar projects, and the commercialization of microgrids more broadly.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 30, 2018
Safeguarding California in Action provides an overview of the state agency action case studies that were included in the Safeguarding California Plan - the state's climate change adaptation plan. This supplementary document provides 33 examples of actions funded by the state, that state agencies are implementing to make communities, infrastructure, services, and the natural environment more resilient to climate change.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 2018
The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) allocates its Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) to fund projects located in and benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities, which is an example of utility commissions participating in equitable grid investment. EPIC funds come from rates charged to electricity customers of the state utilities and supports investments in clean energy technologies that benefit ratepayers of investor owned utilities. AB 523 directs the California Energy Commission (CEC) to expend at least 25 percent of its EPIC funds for Technology Demonstration and Deployment funding (TD&D) at sites located in, and benefiting, “disadvantaged communities,” and adds an additional requirement that the CEC expend at least 10 percent of its EPIC funds for TD&D at sites located in, and benefiting, low-income communities located in the state. The CPUC approved the allocation of $60 million of its EPIC funding to projects located in and benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities that are also specifically prioritized for the investment of proceeds from CA’s cap-and-trade program. These investments are aimed at improving public health, quality of life, and economic opportunity in disadvantaged communities, which are defined by AB 523 as those most burdened by pollution from multiple sources and most vulnerable to its effects, considering socioeconomic characteristics and underlying health status.
Resource Category: Funding
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
November 27, 2017
This report describes natural infrastructure projects implemented in coastal California to support adaptive planning and solutions regarding climate-related coastal hazards. Five case studies of successful adaptation projects to address coastal issues are provided, demonstrating different strategies for varying coastal environments. The report makes the case that natural shoreline infrastructure is a better alternative to engineered structures such as seawalls that increase erosion. Natural infrastructure is more likely to preserve the benefits of coastal ecosystems which provide flood protection, recreation, wildlife habitat, water quality and more.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
2017
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) realigned a 2. 8 mile section of iconic Highway 1 to address current and anticipated impacts from coastal erosion and storm surge. This section of Highway 1, which is north of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse in San Luis Obispo County, was already experiencing increased storm damage from flooding and erosion, with these impacts projected to increase with rising sea levels and higher storm surge caused by climate change. Realigning the highway away from the coast reduces its vulnerability to current damage as well as to future climate impacts and is anticipated to protect the highway from bluff retreat beyond the year 2100.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Carpe Diem West is a nonprofit dedicated to addressing “the profound challenge of increasing climate impacts on our water resources in the American West.” They developed this brief to offer an overview of watershed restoration initiatives in the western U.S. that demonstrate successful agency partnerships, investments, and climate adaptive and restoration projects for watershed resiliency - in order to support the creation of more actionable watershed investment plans.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 18, 2017
This Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) case study on the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative (SDRCC) explores how local governments in the San Diego metropolitan region are coordinating across jurisdictional boundaries to prepare for climate change at the regional level. This case study describes how the SDRCC was formed and has organized its decisionmaking, what local governments and other stakeholders are involved in the collaborative, what roles it is playing to support climate action in the San Diego metropolitan region, and how it funds its activities.
Author or Affiliated User: Annie Bennett
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 18, 2017
This Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) case study on the Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative (CRC) explores how local governments and other partners are coordinating at the regional scale to address climate change in the Sacramento-capital region of California. This case study describes how the CRC was formed and has organized its decisionmaking, what local governments and other stakeholders are involved in the collaborative, what roles it is playing to support climate action in the region, and how the collaborative funds its activities.
Author or Affiliated User: Annie Bennett
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 18, 2017
This Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) case study on the Sierra Nevada Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Partnership (Sierra CAMP) explores how local governments in the 22-county rural Sierra-Nevada region of California are coordinating across jurisdictional boundaries to prepare for climate change. This case study describes how Sierra CAMP was formed and has organized its decision-making, what local governments and other stakeholders are involved in the collaborative, what roles it is playing to support climate action in the Sierra-Nevada region, how the collaborative is influencing state decisionmaking and broadening connections between rural and urban adaptation efforts, and how the collaborative is funding its activities.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Annie Bennett, Hillary Neger
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
January 17, 2017
This Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) case study on the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative (LARC) explores how local governments and other partners are coordinating at the regional scale to address climate change in the Los Angeles metropolitan region of California. This case study describes how LARC was formed and has organized its decisionmaking, what local governments and other stakeholders are involved in the collaborative, what roles it is playing to support climate action in the region, and how the collaborative funds its activities.
Author or Affiliated User: Annie Bennett
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
