NEVADA COUNTY
CLIMATE ACTION NOW
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Meetings: Climate Action Now holds periodic topic oriented public meetings to highlight special events regarding climate change issues. All are welcome.
Go to Education page for 2025 Climate Camp Application
Current Nevada County Activities
RRR
Nevada County is working on a Resource Resiliency Roadmap ("Roadmap") that is on a strategic plan that will set greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, based on current and projected emissions data collected as part of the RRR development process. Nevada County solicited public feedback through an online survey. They were asking how extreme weather experiences have shaped your concern about future climate impacts, what resources are essential to protect, and how actively Nevada County should be working to combat greenhouse gas emissions. For more information visit the website:
https://readynevadacounty.org/4062/Resource-Resiliency-Roadmap
The Resilience Project of Western Nevada County — a new effort bringing people together to tackle local challenges like wildfire risk, drought, and rising insurance costs, and to strengthen our rural future.
The project is a regional climate collaborative formed in 2025 under the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation’s Regional Resilience Grant Program (RRGP). It is a public-private collaboration based in western Nevada County and led by a Governing Board of local agencies.
The Resilience Project envisions Western Nevada County’s future as a rural community building resilience through land stewardship, strong local economies, and collaborative solutions.
The collaborative will bring this vision to life through its mission to cultivate a resilient rural future through education, conservation, land stewardship, and storytelling that connects people, nature, and working lands amid changing climate and economic conditions.
Governing Board
The collaborative’s Governing Board consists of 6 agencies dedicated to the vision and mission and ready to lead change in western Nevada County: Nevada County, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Nevada County Resource Conservation District, Nevada Irrigation District, and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital.
Community meeting
On Oct. 14 the Governing Board held a community meeting in the Love Building in Grass Valley. County supervisors Hoek and Bullock spoke to the group about the project. A Sierra Nevada Alliance spokesperson then asked the group to post their ideas and projects that might be taken up by the Board. The Board will review the comments and prioritize the ideas and projects and report back at the next meeting in first quarter 2026.
Without increased composting capacity at all levels, California risks falling short of its organic waste diversion and climate goals. SB 279 is truly a common-sense solution to expand our composting infrastructure, which is why the California legislature unanimously approved the bill earlier this month. SB 279 also helps California reach our ambitious AB 1757 nature-based climate targets, including the expansion of healthy soils.
Go to Invest/Divest page for how you can act for the environment
Link to the WasteNot facebook page for information on Can I Recycle This?
An affiliate of the nationwide Beyond Plastics project, WasteNOT-Plastic focuses on creating an equitable and plastic-free future for our local community and beyond.
NC CAN is a group of people dedicated to addressing global warming and its causes and effects. NCCAN is actively engaged in implementing the steps necessary to reduce fossil fuel consumption through improvements in building energy efficiency across western Nevada County. The steps include cultivating relationships in the government and commercial sectors for workforce development and in providing resources to the public on state (California Energy Commission, Public Utilities Commission) and Federal (Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure) incentives available in undertaking the rapid electrification and efficiency transition for both residential and commercial buildings.
Sierra Energy Reimagined, a new local non-profit, is coordinating a pilot residential energy upgrade program for home-owners. Here the process of completing home energy audits, identifying contractors, obtaining permits and realizing energy improvements will be established. If you are interested in participating in either the pilot program or becoming a member of NC CAN's Energy Planning Committee please contact Don Rivenes at rivenes@sbcglobal.net.
Your Decarbonization Journey
Remember you don’t have to tackle all these energy decisions this year or even within the next few years. Think of it as your decarbonization journey over the next decade, and plan for it, as you would for any trip. Ideally, begin by spending a few hours assessing your current energy use. You can do this on your own, by using free on-line tools, such as HomeIntel (PG&E) or QuitCarbon.
A professional home energy auditor can come by and conduct an in-depth, comprehensive home energy assessment and provide data driven recommendations for making improvements that will make the most sense for your decarbonization journey. An on-site home energy assessment costs between $300 to $500, but you may be eligible to offset part of the cost (up to a maximum of $150) through a new tax credit provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Where to find more information?
For more information on building decarbonization and electrification, finding out about incentives, and locating contractors, visit TheSwitchIsOn.
If you are interested to learn more about electrification, read the home guide on RewiringAmerica, and make sure to use their IRA incentives calculator, which will give you detailed information about which incentives are available to you based on your location and income category.
Go to the Building efficiency/electrification sub-page under the Energy heading for more information.
Go to WasteNot Page for what to recycle and what not to recycle information
Go to Education - Health page for what you can do to reduce health impacts of CC
Go to the Energy Sub-Pages to see information about what individuals, businesses and cities can do to reduce their energy usage and switch to renewable resources.
Community Choice Aggregation for Nevada County and Cities
Grass Valley and Nevada City have joined Pioneer Community Energy. It is expected that Nevada County will also join the CCA, so everyone in Western Nevada County will have the same opportunity to save money on their electric bills and have the option for the electricity to be 100% renewable.
Why are local governments looking at CCAs?
CCAs provide communities with more local control over their energy supply. As a result, communities can choose to increase the amount of electricity procured from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal. CCAs can also develop innovative energy programs tailored specifically for each community and support the development of local renewable energy projects.
CCAs are public, non-profit agencies that enable city and county governments to pool (or aggregate) the electricity demand of their communities together for the purpose of supplying electricity. A CCA buys electricity on behalf of residential, commercial, and municipal electricity users in its jurisdiction. The electricity continues to be distributed and delivered over the existing PG&E electricity lines
It is important to note that CCAs, once they are operational, are completely ratepayer funded and are not subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
How does it work?
Once approved, all citizens and businesses are automatically enrolled in the CCA. All are given an opportunity to remain with PG&E or can opt out later. Bills will still be prepared by PG&E with an additional section showing the amount paid to the CCA. Rooftop solar owners are part of the program and are paid a small bonus beyond what PG&E would have paid for the excess energy exported to the CCA.
How does this relate to Nevada County Energy Action Plans?
Nevada County, Nevada City and Grass Valley all have Energy Action Plans. These plans are meant to assist citizens in reducing their electricity use through rooftop solar, and energy efficiency. But many citizens cannot afford home retrofitting or cannot use solar panels because of their physical location or because they are renters. CCAs are an alternative where all in the community can participate.
What are the economic advantages of CCA?
CCAs can accelerate the development of local renewable energy projects, which can result in significant local job creation. In general, renewable energy facilities provide many more jobs per unit of investment than traditional natural gas and coal plants.
What are the environmental advantages of CCA?
CCAs can choose to purchase from and develop electricity sources that are more heavily weighted towards renewable energy. Renewable energy can provide electricity with little or no greenhouse gas emissions.
If the power goes out, will PG&E still fix a CCA customer’s outage problem?
Yes, PG&E will still provide the same delivery and customer services regardless of whether that home or business is a CCA customer.
If I joined a CCA, would my electricity rates go up?
A technical study will examine the impacts of a CCA on rates, but so far CCAs have been around 5% lower than PG&E prices. This is dependent on the customer class and the CCA option each customer chooses. Pioneer has an option called Green100 that costs a little more but all of the electricity bill is used to produce renewable energy.
NC-CAN - A Focus On Youth Actions
More than 15,000 people in Nevada County fall under the age of 14. Another 15,000 are 15-30. “Many of these youth do more than tweet or rally to participate in a good cause. They tether their skills to tangible outcomes and study solutions to local and global challenges,” according to the Nevada County Climate Action Now (NC-CAN) Education Committee conveners, who believe that “the attitudes, actions and initiatives of these youth help them emerge as potential change makers of the future.”
Go to the Education Climate Change Agents Page for report on the 2022 camp.
Citizen's Climate Lobby
Update on Nevada County Renewable Energy plans
Currently major cities in Nevada County and the County itself are all in various stages of having completed Greenhouse Gas inventories.
Nevada City has an Energy Action Plan from 2015 and passed a resolution for 100% renewable energy.
Grass Valley has completed an Energy Action Plan, but at this time has no resolution for 100% renewable energy.
Nevada County has completed an Energy Action Plan for its facilities and all of the unincorporated areas of the County. It has no 100% renewable resolution.
Truckee will not be preparing an Energy Action Plan but has a GHG emissions inventory and will be updating its general plan with policies that will support its resolution for 100% renewable energy.
Current NC-CAN Actions
Reaching Grass Valley, Nevada City and Nevada County Energy Action Plan goalsI
The Grass Valley Energy Action Plan set goals to improve energy efficiency in buildings, facilities, and City operations, and to expand the utilization of renewable energy and resilience measures. It projected a decrease of annual grid supplied electricity use in 2035 by 36% and annual natural gas use by 29%. Nevada County and Nevada City have passed similar plans.
Electricity from rooftop solar on existing homes is part of the goal for reducing the export of electricity to the grid.
For new homes, the updated California solar mandates of 2020 require that all new residential homes meet Title 24 requirements that require solar for electricity for newly built homes. It also requires all other buildings to set aside a solar zone for future solar panel installation and to be ready for electric heating and water.
What about natural gas in homes?
“Natural” gas is methane (CH4), 40 to 80 times deadlier than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. A large amount of methane does leak into the atmosphere all along the production process, from the well head through the transmission and distribution lines, and from the stove even when it is turned off. Over 20 years, the methane released would trap about 80 times as much heat as the CO2.
To reduce the annual natural gas usage part of the Energy Action Plan and to help California meet its goals, Grass Valley, Nevada County and Nevada City can do what other cities and counties are doing. They are anticipating California requirements for all buildings to be all-electric by adopting municipal ordinances now. The ordinances state that fuel gas infrastructure shall be prohibited in newly constructed buildings, and existing fuel gas infrastructure shall not be extended to any system or device within a building. Inactive fuel gas infrastructure shall not be activated or otherwise operated. This also applies to building additions of over 50% of existing framing.
The additional electric usage replacing natural gas again does not count against Energy Action Plans when solar panels are used for the electricity.
Are all-electric homes more expensive?
Rocky Mountain Institute recently stated that in every city they analyzed, a new all-electric, single-family home is less expensive than a new mixed-fuel home that relies on gas for cooking, space heating, and water heating.
A ordinance requiring new homes and businesses to be all-electric would help meet our Energy Action Plan goals and support current and future California zero emission goals.
