The University of California Riverside'sBourns College of Engineering Winston Chung Global Energy Center (WCGEC) and Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Energy (SC-RISE) has received a grant to create a center to guide entrepreneurs, develop and implement a network of sustainability companies, agencies and resources, and provide validation and assessment of innovative technologies and ideas.

The goal is that the initial $95,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration will lead to future funding that will allow WCGEC and SC-RISE to hire staff to operate the center, said Sadrul Ula, co- director of the WCGEC, who will compile the feasibility report. (Read more...)

As the largest city in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), Riverside will always be listed first in its official name (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA) based on the naming policies established in federal guidelines. While that may benefit the community in building name recognition, it can be a disservice to the progress, innovation and efforts of our residents, businesses, schools and civic leaders when media irresponsibly uses only "Riverside" when describing unflattering statistics of the MSA that are not accurate for the city itself.

In response to the latest occurrence in which Forbes cited Riverside as one of the dirtiest "cities" in America based on metro area data, City officials decided it was time to educate the media on the inaccurate perceptions that their misleading naming creates for Riverside and many other forward-thinking cities in similar situations. The following is the letter that was sent to the author of the December 11, 2012 article, Christopher Helman. (read more...)

The recent Green Leadership Summit brought local community groups and the City together to discuss the best options for furthering Riverside's sustainability and environmental stewardship goals.

For the past 10 years, the City of Riverside has taken great strides toward becoming a greener and more sustainable place to live. These efforts were launched in 2001 when the city began using light-emitting diodes in all city traffic lights, cutting energy costs and making the signals more visible. This was also the year Riverside Public Utilities installed solar panels at its Utilities Operation Center and started its Tree Power shade tree giveaway program. Since then, we've given away more than 100,000 trees.

These innovative projects convinced city leaders and residents that more could be done to make Riverside a greener place, and as word of our success spread, local support poured in. (Read more...)