Another blog on environment and sustainability? You are probably thinking, “More information – just what I don’t need”.

We couldn’t agree more.

Those of us who work on energy and environment issues, especially here in California, face a relentless barrage of research results, news stories, technology bulletins, and government announcements. Between the universities, the NGO’s and think tanks, the private consulting companies and the various levels of governments, it seems like hardly a day goes by without a “major new report” on climate change, water or some aspect of sustainability.

We in the “sustainability industry” work in a blizzard of information. But blizzards have a tendency to reduce visibility, and information blizzards are no different in that regard. In the midst of all this information, are we making progress toward sustainability? Are we seeing the patterns in the data that will help us make the dramatic changes needed in our energy and water consumption that the goal of sustainability demands, and make them soon enough to avoid the worst consequences of our present course? Are we identifying in the “white noise” of climate change responses the public policy and business strategies that can take our sustainability efforts to the next level? Are we learning?

When it comes to sustainability and environmental issues, the rest of the nation looks to California for ideas and leadership, but where does California turn? What we might call the first generation of sustainability and climate change response strategies is further developed here than anywhere else in America. From carbon markets to automobile fuel efficiency standards, from energy and water efficiency programs to renewable energy business ventures, California has been at the forefront of institutional, policy and business innovation for sustainability.

Are the strategies working? Yes. California has achieved reductions in the use of fuels and electricity per dollar of GDP and per capita that many experts did not believe possible. Traditional energy utilities are shifting their objectives from commodity supply to service provision, opening up new possibilities for growth, innovation and sustainability. The wave of green energy businesses throughout the state is reminiscent of the high tech wave of twenty years ago in terms of the excitement and sense of possibility it is generating. Local authorities throughout the state have identified the synergies between economic development and community greening, and this has sparked healthy competition among communities to be the greenest, the most “climate friendly”, the most “sustainable”. The California Sustainability Alliance is part of all this activity, and we will be using this blog to highlight particularly interesting initiatives and to analyze the lessons we can draw from them.

Are the strategies enough? We know they are not. Take greenhouse gas emissions, for example. In response to hardening consensus within the climate science community, political leaders – including here in California – are calling for greenhouse gas emission levels to be brought down to 20% or less of their current levels, by the middle of this century. We are not yet on a course that would take us to such a low emission future, but neither can it be dismissed as an impossible dream.

We know a great deal about the technological components of such a future. Increases in the efficiency of fuel and electricity use are the central component of virtually all low emission scenarios, as is the rapid deployment of renewable and low carbon fuels. Beyond these adjustments to the efficiency and the carbon intensity of our fuel and electricity use there is deeper, more profound transition that will be required, a design transition. We must learn to provide the amenities and services that underpin our advanced civilization with techniques and technologies that are fundamentally less energy dependent. This may sound like a variation on energy efficiency on the surface, but it is more than that. The design challenge involves finding ways to access goods and services with less mobility, to create comfortable and productive homes and buildings with little or no need for outside supplies of fuel and electricity, and to wherever possible substitute genius, innovation, and ecological design for energy and power. We will explore these themes in this blog, and draw attention to the innovations that could play a significant role in the transition to a low carbon future.

We also know that it is not technological innovation that is the limiting factor in our progress toward sustainability, but logistical, financing, institutional and business innovation. When we flip an electric switch or squeeze the pump handle to gas up our car, over a hundred years of collective experience in business, institution building, finance, technology, and public policy goes to work; all we see is 15 cents per kilowatt-hour or $2.50 a gallon. It needs to be as easy and as risk-free to improve efficiency as it is to turn on a light or fill your tank with gas. This goes to the heart of the mission of the California Sustainability Alliance and we will also be using this blog to highlight progress being made in accelerating deployment of sustainable technologies through organizational and financing and even legal innovations.

Many of the entries here will be connected in some way to energy, water and the built environment. These are not the only dimensions to sustainability, far from it, but they are important and they are areas in which the California Sustainability Alliance is actively pursuing innovative solutions. We will use analysis, stories, and conversations to explore these themes in this blog. We hope it will be a refuge from the blizzard, a place that will help you make sense of the information you are receiving and the experiences you are having in your efforts to align your activities and those of your organization with the common goal of achieving a sustainable future. We welcome your suggestions, your responses and your participation.