The High Social Costs of “Cheap” Artificial Turf
Students and their parents pay for artificial turf injuries. A great deal of public money has been spent by school boards and park departments on artificial turf fields over the past decade. The consensus thinking was […]
Swept Under the Rug: Transforming Past Artificial Turf Mistakes to a Nature-Based Future
In Santa Clara County, both the Fremont Union High School District and the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District have faced significant decisions to make regarding the construction of new fields: will they be natural grass or […]
Fake Plastic Fields: Not Good for Anyone
Sustainable Silicon Valley strongly recommends investing budget, maintenance and water resources in natural grass athletic fields and replacing synthetic turf fields with natural, living grass as they wear out. This transition is essential to prioritizing the […]
Weather Watch: Must-Follow Northern California Meteorology Sources
Our Northern California climate has been changing and our weather really reflects it lately. Here’s a look at reliable meteorological sources that you can use to keep up to date on the latest weather news and developments […]
Sustainable Life Blog Posts: One Whole Year in One Article
We’ve checked this list twice… Last year we published a blog article entitled Home for the Holidays that included a number of sustainable tips for the holiday season. Well, the happy days are here again, and […]
Breathing Easier: Improving Your Indoor Air Quality
SSV’s BackPaqAQ app screen El Niño is starting to make its presence felt this winter. With the inevitable rainstorms El Niño brings, we’ll definitely be living a lot more indoors, where the average American already spends […]
Winter’s Coming: Things to Consider to Weather the Storm(s)
A good chunk of Northern and Central California is looking wetter than average. As winter approaches, the conscientious among us will remember to perform yearly fall duties, such as replacing our furnace filters. But a changing […]
Empowering Future Eco-Minded Citizens: SSV’s Youth Air Quality Advocates Program
Introduction In many communities, poor air quality remains an invisible threat. Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) is on a mission to change this through their Youth Air Quality Advocates (YAQA) program. This initiative, funded by the California […]
Moving Towards the Light: Home Backup Power Systems
A home stylist’s vision of battery backup. CNET/Petmal/Getty Images We’ve previously highlighted California’s new climate paradigm marked by increasingly extreme weather events. The reliability of a home backup power supply has become more critical than ever. […]
EV Battery Considerations: Chemistry & Mining
Lithium hard rock strip mine. Gwenn Dubourthoumieu/The Carter Center In 2022, the State of California established a plan to make all new vehicle sales zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035. No doubt this will be a tremendous […]
EV Charging, the Front & the Back
With the exception of the propietary Tesla Supercharger, the de facto standard level 3 plug is the Combined Charging System (CCS1) Type. Via Ars Technica. Rechargeable batteries are now virtually everywhere, powering more and more components […]
Paradise by Bus: Getting Around Oahu
The sun and sand on Lanikai Beach. My wife and I have challenged ourselves to always use local mass transit to get around every destination we visit on vacation. We recently traveled to the Hawaiian island […]