Chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, plan to put 40 sensors over 27 square miles of Oakland and other bits of the East Bay to measure carbon dioxide pollution, which contributes to global warming. Most of the sensors will be on top of local schools, and students will be involved in the project. The shoebox sized sensors will measure carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone in the air, as well as temperature, pressure and humidity.

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Wells Fargo has announced a massive new program to promote sustainable business across the nation. Wells Fargo is committing to $30 billion in loans and investments in support of a "green" economy, $100 million in community grants for grassroots environmental initiatives and a 40 percent increase in the company's energy efficiency by 2020. Since 2006, Wells Fargo has invested $2.7 billion in equity financing for over 300 renewable energy projects in 27 states. Read more here.

Some10,000 California homes now bear the “GreenPoint Rated” label from Oakland-based Build It Green, a rating that rewards energy efficiency and conservation in new and remodeled homes. To date, California's 10,000 GreenPoint Rated homes have saved over 112 million gallons of water — enough to fill MacArthur Park Lake five times over — and avoided nearly 9,000 tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of taking over 1,500 cars off the road for a year... Read more here.

Four of Bloomberg’s newly minted “Top Ten Clean Tech Pioneers” are based in California. Bloomberg said the companies “have the potential to change the energy landscape forever.” California winners include: San Francisco’s Clean Power Finance and ECOtality, San Diego’s Maxwell Technologies, and Redwood City’s Silver Springs Networks. Read more here.