Resource Library

The Green Bond Principles (GBP) are voluntary process guidelines developed by the not-for-profit organization Ceres that recommend transparency and disclosure and promote integrity in the development of the Green Bond market by clarifying the approach for issuance of a Green Bond. The GBP are intended for broad use by the market: they provide issuers guidance on the key components involved in launching a credible Green Bond; they aid investors by ensuring availability of information necessary to evaluate the environmental impact of their Green Bond investments; and they assist underwriters by moving the market towards standard disclosures which will facilitate transactions.

The company Mapdwell has developed a remote rooftop solar assessment tool for several American cities, including Washington, D.C. Users can select a preset configuration based on roof coverage, desired monthly savings, or investment plans, or create their own configuration to assess their solar suitability on a number of levels. More solar maps for select American cities can be accessed on the Mapdwell website.

Many statewide water resources for California can be found on this list by, categorized by region: Northern California, Central Valley, Central Coast, and Southern California. This list includes residential, commercial, and industrial water rebates and incentives.

The Advanced Pumping Efficiency Program (APEP) encourages energy conservation in California by aiming to increase overall pumping efficiency through education and incentives. Incentives are available for any size eligible, electric- or natural gas-powered water pump to improve overall pumping efficiency. APEP is available through Pacific Gas & Electric Company and funded through the Public Purpose Programs Charge under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission. The is managed by the Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT) at California State University, Fresno. More information, including how to get a pump efficiency test, is available here: http://cwi.csufresno.edu/pumpefficiency/Pumptesting/howto.asp.

The Academy of Water Education (AWE) in Sacramento is the onsite training center of the California Rural Water Association. AWE has courses on water treatment operations and maintenance and water distribution operations and maintenance. It also offers courses to get backflow tester certification and utility management certification. Experienced professionals bring practical knowledge to these courses, and onsite workshops allow participants to learn hands-on skills.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists several landscape irrigation training and certification programs across the country that advance water-efficient irrigation techniques and practices. An irrigation professional certified by a WaterSense labeled program can design, install, maintain, or audit your irrigation system to ensure it uses the right amount of water to maintain a healthy landscape while minimizing waste.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) provides grants to states, territories, and some Indian tribes to improve the energy efficiency of the homes of low-income families. This website contains case studies, information about how and where to apply to the program, as well as links to contact information for WAP state administrators.

Multnomah County offers weatherization services related to insulation and heating to income-qualified residents to save energy through conservation measures. Municipal utilities and local governments that lack the funding for weatherization incentive programs can establish similar programs to assist their most economically disadvantaged households.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) partners with Strategic Energy Innovations to provide "a week-long intensive training program on commercial energy auditing, sustainability, climate change, energy sources and green careers, conducting a school energy audit during the course of the training. Student auditors then apply their skills by performing energy audits of schools in their district, compiling the data they have collected to develop a professional energy audit report, and presenting their recommendations for energy savings to the school board." This helps prepare local youth for careers in energy efficiency.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created a decision tree to guide state and local governments and other stakeholders through a process for screening sites for their suitability for future redevelopment with wind energy. This decision tree can be used to screen individual sites for wind energy potential or for a community-scale evaluation of multiple sites. The process is also applicable for a range of sites, from single turbine installations to large wind farms. Targeted sites include brownfields, Superfund sites, RCRA sites, abandoned parcels, landfills, and mining sites.

This four-page memo, produced by San Francisco's Planning Department, clearly delineates the design guidelines and height limits for small wind systems. Additionally, it outlines the environmental review that such systems are subject to. An electronic copy of this memo is provided on SF Environment's Urban Wind section of its website, where additional information about how to secure a permit can be found.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Wind Power Prospector is a mapping and analysis tool designed to help developers site large-scale wind farms by providing easy access to wind resource datasets and other data relevant to siting wind power projects.

Portland General Electric's Clean Wind program is an easy, economical way to help support wind farms. Under this option, a customer's actual energy use is billed at the Basic Service rate. Customers pay an extra fixed $2.50 monthly charge on their bill for a unit of renewable wind power. One unit purchased is equivalent to 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) of new wind generation. Customers can purchase as many units as they want.

Xcel Energy's Windsource program allows residential utility customers to purchase renewable energy for less than a dollar per month. Due to the number of participants in the program, the amount of renewable energy that Xcel produces currently exceed renewable portfolio standard requirements. More details about the program can be found on Xcel Energy's website.

The Wind Project Calculator was developed to assist in performing cash flow modeling for community wind projects. You will need to enter specific information about the type of turbine you are considering, the estimated annual average wind speed, information about electricity use and electric rates, and information about financing and income taxes. The program will estimate the cash flows for investing in a wind turbine and the rate of return on the cash investments

Legal, binding contracts between landowners and wind energy development companies are a necessary part of any wind farm development project. This article discusses important considerations for landowners regarding the contract negotiation and construction process, property taxes, decommissioning, and more. Jurisdictions can share this article on wind energy pages.

Choosing the proper windows, glazed doors, and skylights is one of the most important decisions for any high-performance project. The use of high performance fenestration can actually reduce energy consumption by decreasing the lighting and heating and cooling loads in nonresidential and high-rise residential buildings. This section of the 2013 California Building Energy Standards for Building Envelopes details window-related criteria and information about high performance windows that will be of interest to building officials and designers.

The Department of Energy's Energy Saver technology portal contains a profile of wood and pellet heating, which can be an economical and environmentally sound heating fuel choice for certain homes. It provides an overview of the types of appliances available, fuel choices, maintenance information, as well as links to additional helpful resources.

In the process of reducing emissions from wood burning devices, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which serves the Los Angeles Area, offers an incentive for residents or landlords of a rental property in the areas surrounding cities of Riverside and San Bernardino or the community of Boyle Heights to replace their wood burning device with a cleaner burning alternative. Qualifying alternatives include gas logs and gas or electric fireplaces and stoves.

The Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency offers local residents interested in trading in their old wood stove or fireplace insert an incentive worth $500 to $1,000 for the purchase and installation of a cleaner wood, pellet or gas stove/insert or a mini-split, ductless heat pump

This guide focuses on ways communities can implement an effective residential wood-burning appliance changeout as part of its reduction strategy. It identifies best practices and recommendations for a successful changeout program and offers other considerations to maximize funding and air quality benefits.

As a part of the Regional Renewable Energy Project (R-REP), a collaborative solar procurement led by Alameda County and encompassing 19 public agencies, Alameda County convened a Workforce Taskforce to develop guidelines to ensure that vendors utilized local workers to build R-REP projects. Comprised of representatives from Workforce Investment Boards within the four counties participating in R-REP, staff from local workforce organizations, and members of local Trades Councils and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Taskforce helped design a provision included in the R-REP RFQ/RFP that required bidders to submit a workforce plan demonstrating Good Faith Efforts to achieve 40% local hiring. Vendors were also required to describe their partnerships with local community colleges, apprenticeship, bridge programs, and other organizations engaged with the community in workforce development. Vendors were evaluated on the workforce plan submitted as part of their bid.

The Non-Residential Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) Charging Station Pilot Program offers local businesses a pathway for obtaining City of Berkeley permit approval in a fast, coordinated, and low-cost manner.

World Bank Green Bonds support projects selected by World Bank environment and other sector specialists that meet specific criteria for development activities that help lower global carbon emission and alleviate poverty. The list that follows on the World Bank's website are green projects which have been funded in whole or in part by World Bank Green Bonds.

This study describes the outcomes of field research, data analysis, and expert feedback undertaken to investigate zero energy and deep energy retrofit pathways for existing homes in San Francisco, whose feasibility has been validated. Data from the Energy Upgrade California and San Francisco Home Improvement and Performance Program home energy retrofit programs; independent testing on 2- to 4-unit homes; and interviews with home performance experts and experienced San Francisco contractors was used to group energy efficiency measures into three technically feasible “pathways” to zero net energy.