michelle's blog

Contributed by Presidio Garduate School's MBA program in Sustainable Management. ... read more

A few years back I wrote an article about the Presidio Graduate School’s MBA/MPA program.  I was recently invited to spend a day at Presidio (located in San Francisco, CA) to learn more about the university, students, faculty, and curriculum.  As mentioned in my first article, Presidio tops most lists of “Green” or “Sustainable” Graduate programs, and I was honored to sit in on the Masters in Public Administration (MPA) Integrative Capstone class two weeks ago.... read more

In July, California Governor Jerry Brown, announced a plan to increase the state's renewable energy to a 12-gigawatt by 2020, by relying on “tens of thousands of little decisions” by residents and business owners. Brown cited the cost of routing large-scale energy farms in remote areas as a reason for focusing on smaller projects. He also cited the delays in previous large-scale desert projects due to litigation over natural resources, native animals, and Native American sites.

However, a recent article from Freakonomics.com points out several concerns with this plan, based on simple cost-benefit analysis:

-Individuals (such as homeowners and small businesses) do not make decisions based on what is “socially optimal”... read more

A 4-plex of residents in a Walnut Creek, CA retirement community decide to go solar. The result is a small solar community, with other residents watching on and catching the “solar bug.” - “It's a win-win situation.”

“Solar Communities” are beginning to pop up around the country – especially in states such as California and New Jersey where financial incentives are strong. A solar community is a block of residents joined together to install solar panels – often receiving the same bulk discounts you might get on a 42-pack of socks at Costco.

Tim O. of Walnut Creek, California recently did just that in his retirement community. Rossmoor is a large retirement community which houses single-family homes, duplexes, four-plexes, and condo apartments for those 55+.... read more

The San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) is partnering with the city Assessor-Recorder's office and Energy Upgrade California to launch the SF Home Improvement & Performance (SFHIP) incentive program. The goal of the program is to increase the affordability of "green" home improvements for San Franciscans. San Francisco is one of the only cities in California that provides governmental incentives in addition to state and federal incentives for going solar.

... read more