California is a national leader in renewable energy development. But energy systems development is driven more by financial considerations than environmental ones, leaving customers more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher determined.
Sean Kennedy is a professor in urban and regional planning whose research interests include energy systems. He examined private investments in solar energy infrastructure in northern Los Angeles County, including the financial beneficiaries and the development’s environmental benefits and costs. Kennedy and co-author Ryan Stock, of the University of Northern Michigan, reported their findings in the online journal Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space.
California is one of the most climate-challenged regions in the country, with threats from wildfires, heat waves and drought….
