The Institute for Local Government (ILG) is launching a new program, the California Climate Action Network (CalCAN).

Craig W. Hoellwarth is principal of GREEN INQ, a consulting firm that provides green/sustainable planning and design services, and can be reached at craig@GreenInq.com. John Deakin is senior energy and sustainability manager for HDR/Brown Vence & Associates, which specializes in solid waste management planning and energy management consulting, and can be reached at John.Deakin@hdrinc.com. Leslie Kramer is vice president of HDR/Brown Vence & Associates and can be reached at Leslie.Kramer@hdrinc.com.

As energy costs rise and widespread concern about climate change increases, cities can limit their greenhouse gas emissions and save money by reducing energy use in municipal buildings and investing in energy efficiency. This article explores questions city officials should ask about energy use and efficiency so they can make informed decisions about city buildings.

The City of Irvine won an Award of Excellence in the Planning and Environmental Quality category of the 2006 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence program. For more information, visit www.cacities.org/helenputnam.

Craig Labadie is city attorney for Concord and president of the League’s City Attorneys Department. He can be reached at clabadie@ci.concord.ca.us. Labadie gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by Kourtney Burdick, the League’s deputy general counsel, in drafting this article.

The purpose of the Public Records Act (PRA) is to give the public access to information that enables them to monitor the functioning of their government.¹ Its fundamental precept is that governmental records shall be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there is a specific reason not to do so.² Most of the reasons for withholding a record are set forth in the PRA.

Hans Johnson Ph.D. is a demographer and research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. He is the author of numerous reports on the state’s changing population, all of which are available at www.ppic.org.

Any number of superlatives could be used to describe California’s astounding growth. The state’s population, which has doubled since 1965, consists of more than 37 million people today. That growth sets California apart from the rest of the developed world. During the 20th century, California grew at a faster rate than any other large developed region on earth. The state’s population now exceeds that of all but 32 countries. To put it another way, California’s population is larger by several million than all of Canada’s, and within the next 10 years it is likely to surpass that of Spain.