The California city spent years cultivating an urban forest for shade and cooling benefits, which now presents a unique challenge to tapping the area's solar potential. A new company has a solution.
To meet local demand for renewable energy, CleanPath Ventures plans to create a solar farm outside of the city limits, from which Davis homeowners can buy "garden plots" with their own photovoltaic panels. The system allows homeowners, who would otherwise need to install panels on their roofs, to keep their shade-making trees. Todd Woody notes that there are also economies of scale benefits that come with providing power from a centralized location.
Homeowners would even be able to keep their plot if they move within Davis, says Matt Cheney, founder of CleanPath ventures:
"If you moved down the block, you'd take the electricity production with you just like if you make an investment in a community garden, wherever you live you'll benefit from what's grown in the garden."
FULL STORY: The Benefits of Solar With the Beauty of Trees

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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