Utilities: Page 22

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    California unveils 7 guaranteed income pilot projects

    Aiming to support basic needs, the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program will provide regular, unconditional cash payments to nearly 2,000 pregnant people and former foster youth.

    By Michael Brady • Nov. 29, 2022
  • A detailed landscape design plan showing topographic contour lines, orange building illustrations, green trees, and directional arrows. The layout includes winding paths and clustered vegetation. A triangular scale ruler lies on the left, and three colored pencils, colored blue, green, and yellow, rest on the lower right corner of the page.
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    Column

    All hands on deck: Ensuring successful municipal construction projects

    All hands on deck: Ensuring successful municipal construction projects

    By Chuck Mathieu • Nov. 28, 2022
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    Trendline

    Energy Codes and Building Performance Standards

    Cities are using these levers to meet climate goals and address everything from data centers to building decarbonization.

    By Smart Cities Dive staff
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    Building out nationwide EV charging is taking longer than consumers think, Fuels Institute says

    Permit approvals, government funding and knowing where to deploy charging stations are some of the many hurdles EV stakeholders face.

    By Brett Dworski • Nov. 23, 2022
  • A photo of a man changing an electric bicycle battery.
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    Austin to double e-bike rebates in 2023

    The city increased the rebates to encourage more people, especially “historically underserved populations,” to buy and use e-bikes, a spokesperson for Austin’s publicly-owned utility said.

    By Michael Brady • Nov. 22, 2022
  • A dark blue electric bus showing a sign on the right side that reads "Nova Bus: Bring life to your city" is on a road under green trees.
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    Courtesy of Nova Bus
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    Electric transit bus orders boom after FTA funds 1,100 buses

    Cities, states and transit agencies need to plan ahead to transition their fleets to electric buses, as manufacturers struggle to keep up with orders.

    By • Nov. 21, 2022
  • A sidewalk in Tampa, Florida, with embedded solar panels designed to help power traffic lights at an intersection.
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    Permission granted by City of Tampa Mobility Department
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    Tampa tries sidewalk solar panels as backup power for traffic lights

    The Florida city started using solar sidewalks for backup power after 2017’s Hurricane Irma created lengthy power outages at intersections. It assessed the technology's performance this fall during Hurricane Ian.

    By Maria Rachal • Nov. 21, 2022
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    The 10 most future-ready cities in North America: report

    Cities must invest more in digital and physical infrastructure to address today’s challenges but face several barriers, including a lack of public trust, a new report finds.

    By Michael Brady • Nov. 15, 2022
  • The east side of the US Capitol in the early morning. Senate Chamber in the foreground.
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    With control of Congress unknown, clean energy advocates cheer state wins and press for climate action

    So far, it appears Republicans failed to pull off an anticipated “red wave” and Democrats outperformed expectations, analysts say.

    By Robert Walton • Nov. 9, 2022
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    Climate funding wins big on state and local ballots

    Voters in many jurisdictions embraced spending on resilience projects, clean energy and other climate change mitigation efforts  — with one notable exception.

    By Maria Rachal • Updated Nov. 9, 2022
  • An Amazon delivery van made by Rivian sits in a neighborhood.
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    Courtesy of Amazon
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    Amazon rolls out Rivian EVs in more cities for holiday deliveries

    The company has delivered more than 5 million packages to U.S. customers using the electric vans since July.

    By Max Garland • Nov. 8, 2022
  • Macky Sall, Chairperson of the African Union, speaks during the Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit of the UNFCCC COP27 climate conference.
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    Sean Gallup via Getty Images
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    COP27 to spotlight implementation, finance for climate action

    Even at the global stage, there could be insights on how to best go about decarbonizing U.S. cities from this month’s United Nations climate conference, experts say.

    By Maria Rachal • Nov. 7, 2022
  • A detailed landscape design plan showing topographic contour lines, orange building illustrations, green trees, and directional arrows. The layout includes winding paths and clustered vegetation. A triangular scale ruler lies on the left, and three colored pencils, colored blue, green, and yellow, rest on the lower right corner of the page.
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    Opinion

    Creating a menu of city standards for better outdoor dining guidelines

    Editor's note: This article was originally published in American City & County, which has merged with Smart Cities Dive to bring you expanded coverage of city innovation and local government. For the latest in smart city news, explore Smart Cities Dive or sign up for our newsletter.Prompted b...

    By Tham Nguyen, Glenn Armstrong • Nov. 4, 2022
  • An election worker works at the Orange County Registrar of Voters less than two weeks before midterms Election Day on October 27, 2022 in Santa Ana, California.
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    Elections 2022

    Climate action ballot initiatives for Election Day 2022

    Spending for transportation decarbonization, wildfire prevention, storm resilience and more are up for a vote next week in some states.

    By Maria Rachal • Nov. 1, 2022
  • A detailed landscape design plan showing topographic contour lines, orange building illustrations, green trees, and directional arrows. The layout includes winding paths and clustered vegetation. A triangular scale ruler lies on the left, and three colored pencils, colored blue, green, and yellow, rest on the lower right corner of the page.
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    Column

    Wastewater monitoring is an important tool for administrators, but not without ethical considerations

    In this pandemic-marked era, public health officials are looking everywhere for signs that could point to disease spread, including through wastewater monitoring at local sewer systems.

    By Andy Castillo • Oct. 31, 2022
  • High voltage pylons with electric power lines transfering electricity from solar photovoltaic cells at sunrise.
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    Clean energy supply bottlenecks hit overburdened communities the hardest, utilities and advocates say

    The Inflation Reduction Act and an equity focus should help reverse the trend, however.

    By Elizabeth McCarthy • Oct. 27, 2022
  • An engineer checks the installation of heat pump on a model house.
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    For equitable building electrification, philanthropy-backed fund puts communities in the driver’s seat

    Who designs the energy transition? As cities work to reduce building emissions and spur clean alternatives, the creators of the Equitable Building Electrification Fund believe that decision-making power needs to shift.

    By Maria Rachal • Oct. 26, 2022
  • Phillips 66
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    Retrieved from Phillips 66 press release.
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    Houston gets ultrafast EV charging at Phillips 66 flagship station

    Built and installed by FreeWire Technologies, the fuel company says it’s the first ultrafast EV charging location at a gas and convenience store in the city.

    By Brett Dworski • Oct. 17, 2022
  • A bright blue electric bus is parked at a curb.
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    Courtesy of New Flyer
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    Oakland tests electric transit buses for resilience in vehicle-to-building pilot

    The California city will be the site for analyzing how zero-emission transit buses can maintain critical loads during emergency conditions.

    By Robert Walton • Oct. 12, 2022
  • Pilot
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    Retrieved from Pilot website.
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    GM partners with Pilot, EVGo to launch massive convenience store EV-charging initiative

    Convenience store chains are adding hundreds of EV charging stations, but the Pilot chain's goal to install thousands could signal the beginning of an EV charging arms race in that industry.

    By Brett Dworski • Oct. 12, 2022
  • Rendering shows a darkly-lit garage with an electric vehicle charger mounted on the wall and a parked Chevrolet Silverado pickup.
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    Courtesy of General Motors
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    GM partners with utilities, solar and storage providers on vehicle-to-grid, home EV charging

    General Motors hopes the new services will spur EV adoption while improving grid resiliency, it said as part of a broader business announcement Tuesday.

    By • Oct. 11, 2022
  • A person charges an electric vehicle.
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    Smart Cities Connect

    Building EV charging through public-private partnerships

    Cities and companies can work together to install charging stations along curbs, at multifamily housing, in parking lots and at public facilities, panelists said at Smart Cities Connect.

    By Danielle McLean • Oct. 4, 2022
  • A parking space labeled "EV Charging Only"
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    Drew Angerer/Getty Images via Getty Images
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    New York begins implementation of 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars and trucks, following California lead

    Boosting sales of EVs in New York may require changing the law around how vehicles are sold, according to the Alliance for Clean Energy New York.

    By Robert Walton • Sept. 30, 2022
  • Smoke rises from the skyscrapers along Chicago's lakefront.
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    Kamil Krzaczynski via Getty Images
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    Chicago passes updated building energy code to support decarbonization

    Starting in November, new building designs must adhere to stronger energy-efficiency and electrification standards as the city seeks to mitigate one of its major sources of emissions.

    By Katie Pyzyk • Sept. 29, 2022
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    Retrieved from BP and Hertz press release.
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    BP and Hertz to develop national EV charging network

    The move sets the foundation for BP and Hertz to “drive the future of mobility and accelerate EV consumer adoption,” the companies said in a statement.

    By Brett Dworski • Sept. 29, 2022
  • Electric charging station with many electric chargers and a parking lot on a sunny day.
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    EV charging network plans approved for all 50 states

    The FHWA’s approval unlocks $1.5 billion in NEVI program funds through fiscal years 2022 and 2023 for all jurisdictions across the U.S., allowing the build-out of chargers covering about 75,000 miles of highway.

    By Danielle McLean • Sept. 28, 2022