With California suffering from a heat wave and on the brink of exhausting its electrical power supply, Gov. Gray Davis (D) this week mandated new energy conservation measures in the state. Under his executive orders, the government will develop a strategy for making state-owned buildings more sustainable and energy-efficient, with eco-friendly lighting, windows, and heating and cooling systems. Enviros praised Davis’s move. “While many states treat looming brownouts only as a supply crisis where you build more power plants and start firing up old, unused diesel generators, the governor is telling us to lighten the load on the system,” said Ralph Cavanagh of the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco.
