When San Francisco’s quake-damaged Central Freeway met the wrath of the wrecking ball in the early nineties, it left a sprawling waterfront like a blank canvas. In the grand sprucing-up of the Embarcadero, the city lined the imposing roadway with more than 200 palm trees.

But now a disease is working its way through those trees, leaving many for dead and leaving San Francisco with a hefty replacement bill.

“The palm trees have something called Fusarium Wilt,” said S.F. Dept. Of Public Works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon. “Which is a highly contagious fungal disease that can ultimately kill the trees.”

The disease is a guaranteed death sentence. So far 26 of the Embarcadero’s 220 Canary Island palm trees are confirmed to have it.

Another 34 trees show symptoms of the disease. The city has replaced four of the trees with plans to replace another three before this summer’s America’s Cup Yacht Race. But like the trees themselves, the price tag is way up there.

“To replace these trees is about $35,000,” said Gordon. “That’s both to dig them up and to put in new palm trees.”

City arborists are trying and preserve the diseased trees as long as possible. Gordon said the disease is highly contagious and can even be spread to other Canary Island palm trees using the same saw blades used to prune them.

While the city is trying it’s best to preserve the trees, some think it should cull the diseased trees at a much quicker pace.

“It makes sense in our city to maintain our big trees,” said Doug Wildman of the Friends of the Urban Forest. “But again, you’re subjecting the ones that are healthy to this disease.” '

Wildman said the city should consider different palm trees as it moves forward with roadside development projects across the city. Already, Canary Island palm trees extend down upper Market Street.

“We can’t keep planting them,” said Wildman. “We need to look at different palms if we really want palms for those applications.”

Gordon said city tree crews are replacing the dying palm trees with Mexican Fan Palms which are less likely to be infected Fusarium Wilt.

The city faced controversy over the original decision to plant palm trees since they’re non-native. But in a city of transplants and immigrants, some said the sprawling foreigners, feel right at home. “They really have found a place on the waterfront,” said Gordon.

Tesla is for real.

If you had any doubts, just look to Wall Street this morning. Shares of Tesla Motors stock (TSLA) have soared about 25 percent so far this morning. Over the last couple of months, the share price has doubled, adding close to four billion dollars to its market value.

Even more impressively (at least for me, a non stock holder), look at your local roadways. Teslas are everywhere these days. They're outselling The Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, despite the fact that the Model S is much more expensive. What was at first a trickle of Teslas in the wild has become a steady stream.

According to the company's latest earning report, Tesla sold 4,900 cars over the last three months, with sales expected to pick up even more steam in the month ahead. Net income for the quarter was $11.2 million dollars, sharply up from the $89.9 million dollar loss recorded the year before.

On top of all that, Consumer Reports just published a very favorable review, giving the Model S a 99 out of a possible 100 rating. Yowza. This from the magazine that couldn't bring itself to recommend the iPhone 5.

There are, of course, future roadblocks in the way for Tesla. But recently, at least, this company has done just about everything right, and it's being richly rewarded.

Scott, who test drove the Model S, is on Twitter: @scottbudman

Ben Cowden pushed a shopping cart toward a mound of garbage, mentally sifting through its heap of grimy contents. He dug into a pile, flipping an unrecognizable gizmo into his cart, smiling at the find.

With his castoff treasures rattling in the cart, he wheeled back toward his art studio in San Francisco's Recology Recycling Plant to continue work. "Really, the things I see the most coming through are televisions and microwaves," Cowden said. "And toilets for some reason -- a lot of toilets."

Cowden isn't interested in toilets or microwaves. But the motor from a copy machine, a bowling bowl, and an umbrella denuded of its fabric have all found their way into his mechanical art contraptions.

Back in the studio, he blows into the tip of what appears to be a black and red umbrella, launching it into a heaving motion reminiscent of breathing. In another device, the motor from a windshield wiper propels a pair of colorful paddles made from kite parts and plumbing pipe into a swimming motion.

"I'm surprised at the amount of perfect good things that come through," he said, gesturing toward a pile of miscellaneous items some might mistake for regular old garbage.

Cowden, along with fellow artist Ian Treasure, are the current artists in residence at the Recology plant.

In a tenure that began in February, the two artists are spending four months rummaging through the loads of trash, finding items to turn into art. The things they find inspire the art, they said.

"There's furniture, there's tools, there's sometimes money," said the appropriately named Treasure. "There's fixtures, fittings, woods -- virtually anything you can think of."

Among Treasure's mechanical pieces, was a motor-powered treadmill track striped to look like a road, with a small yellow taxi car running in place.

He called the piece, "Road to Nowhere." In another installation, Treasure was in the midst of installing motor-powered rulers on a dozen school desks that would slap the desks with a syncopated thwack.

"Like when I was in school when I was a kid," smiled Treasure. Somewhere, buried in the mounds of Recology's trash was an ecological message of some kind. 

"Not that you have to make artwork out of all your trash, but there is a different way to look at these things," said Cowden. "Just because you don't want it doesn't mean it's completely useless."

The artists will continue salvaging, tinkering and pondering uses for things, their manufacturers never imagined.

It will all culminate in an art show in Recology's studios starting May 17.

Perhaps, guests will recognize their broken umbrella, or a failed kite, or a semi-functioning telescope - never imagining how imperfect things can sometimes make perfect art.

Southern California's recent windstorm downed trees, knocked out power lines and fanned the flames of a wildfire, but it also set an energy record by spinning those towering white turbines in the desert.

A new high was recorded Sunday in the amount of electric power produced by wind turbines in the state, according to the independent nonprofit that runs about four-fifths of the state's power grid.

Wind gusts of more than 70 mph powered through the region beginning Saturday and lasting through Monday, with thousands losing power and drivers encountering poor visibility. Gusts were expected to continue in some areas late Tuesday into Wednesday.

The new record was set at 6:44 p.m. Sunday, when turbines spinning of the California Independent System Operator grid reported 4,196 megawatts of power produced.

That amount of power is enough to provide power to more than 3.1 million homes on average at once, according to data in a Cal ISO explainer.

On Friday, April 5, wind turbines had produced 4,095 megawatts of power, surpassing California's record of 3,944 megawatts, which had been set on March 3.

“With these impressive wind production levels, California is well positioned to meet the 33 percent by 2020 green power goal,” said ISO President and CEO Steve Berberich, referring to a sustainable energy target set by California law.

Wind plants in California have a capacity of 5,899 megawatts on the Cal ISO grid, the organization said in a press release Monday, but not all of that capacity was available during the windstorm because of routine outages.

In the United States, California comes in second in wind power to Texas, where the state's peak production is more than twice that seen the Golden State's Sunday record.
 

They are tracking humpback whales, both by sounds and on giants screens inside the Sunnyvale headquarters of Liquid Robotics.

And they are doing it by collecting data from a solar powered device called a Wave Glider. The Wave Glider SV series is a powerful computer disguised as a surfboard that moves through the water unlike anything that's come before.

It's fast, super high tech and has solved a problem. "It's really hard to operate in the ocean. There are no extension cords there," said Liquid Robotics CEO Bill Vass.

Vass showed us how his newest machine can operate 100-percent on solar and wave power without any emissions. It's like a Tesla for the ocean.

"With this new platform, we add wave and sun to thrust for our ability to move in the ocean," Vass said.

And did we mention its power? The solar batteries that run inside the surfboard essentially make the board a floating data center.

"If you think about it, these are like powerful floating cell phones. They have the same chips as your iPhone, and the ability to collect, process, and send data from the high seas," Vass said.

The Wave Gliders will be used to track fish populations, find oil and secure borders. Bass says they will help bring big data to 70-percent of the globe - our bodies of water - with one goal in mind.

Vass said he wants to be able to begin to manage and protect the ocean like we do on land. "The reason we do it on land is because we have the data. The reason we don't in the sea is that we don't have the data," Vass said.

With Wave Glider, it's becoming a little easier and a lot cleaner to get that data now.

For five winter seasons and running, Bay Area residents have observed Spare the Air, curbing their wood- burning activities on select days to promote cleaner air.

Has it worked? The Bay Area Air Quality Management District reviewed pollution levels from the last few years and concluded that Spare the Air, along with other factors, has pushed particulate matter levels (known simply as ‘PM’) lower each year for the last several.

“What we’ve seen over time is a decrease in the peak levels of PM concentration in the winter time,” said Eric Stevenson, the group’s director of technical services, “and what we believe that’s caused by is the decrease in smoke that’s emitted from individuals’ fireplaces.” A closer look at the numbers reveals that average peak PM levels have indeed dropped the last few years, based on testing sites located throughout the Bay Area.

Some areas, like Livermore, Concord, Redwood City, Vallejo, Santa Rosa and Gilroy, demonstrated fairly significant drops. More urban cities like San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose either saw small reductions or in Oakland’s case, a slight increase. For fuller context, however, it’s interesting to note that PM levels fell precipitously when measured over a broader time horizon.

The biggest drop occurred from 2000 to 2003, when total PM in the Bay Area shrank by 32 percent. Since that point in time, it’s fallen another 22 percent. “It’s really difficult to make definitive types of statements when there are a tremendous number of variables [involved],” added Stevenson, who said that the timing and frequency of storms, for example, can greatly skew the numbers in one direction or another. Nonetheless, he said after accounting for changes in weather, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is “pretty confident that the program has had a very large effect on getting us under national standards” for PM levels.

During the 2012-2013 season, there were a total of 10 Spare the Air days observed. We asked Berkeley professor and environmental engineer Robert Harley if a modestly-used program like Spare the Air could really sway pollution levels over a period of several years. Harley said he hadn’t looked at the data specifically, but believes “in the short-term, the best thing you can do is to ask people not to burn wood on those problematic nights,” calling the Spare the Air program well-targeted.

The longer-term effects, however, aren’t as clear. “It’s still helpful, but it has much less leverage on the annual average of particulate matter (PM), and it’s much more focused on the high winter episodes,” Harley said.

The professor has been conducting field research on gasoline and diesel emissions since the mid-1990s, and believes that higher fuel standards, better technology in the motor industry and more state controls over industrial practices has had a more obvious impact on pollution levels in the long-term.

“I can tell you for sure that the gasoline and diesel engine sources are going down over time,” Harley said.

Car and truck emissions, according to the BAAQMD’s own research, contribute about 32 percent of winter time pollutants. Wood-burning, by contrast, is around 28 percent, the single largest source. “If you look over a long time scale, over 10 or 20 years, there’s been a steady march downward,” Harley said.

“And that’s in a good direction, right? That’s progress in improving air quality.”

The federal government is investigating the Port of San Francisco.

For the birds, brother -- strictly for the birds.

A pair of rare raptors were nesting near Pier 80, on top of an 150-foot crane -- and their nest has been removed by workers, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The birds are ospreys, and this particular pair of nesting ospreys are the first birds of their feather to be seen in San Francisco -- ever, the newspaper reported. Ospreys were up until recently nearly extinct.

The ospreys had left for the winter, but before they could return, "port workers smashed their nest to bits last week," the Chronicle's Matier and Ross reported.

The workers may also have violated federal law: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act means no raptor's nest can be disturbed during mating season.

Federal officials are "looking into" the potential law breaking.
 

A key decision for CleanPowerSF -- a program wherein San Francisco utility customers would be provided an alternative to the PG&E monopoly -- has been delayed thanks to a debate over funding for future clean energy projects, according to reports.

Approved last year, CleanPowerSF will allow customers to purchase pricier, 100 percent renewable energy -- but the maximum rate for that energy has yet to be determined.

The local Public Utilities Commission was slated Monday to make a decision over the maximum rate but booted that choice down the road to April 23, the San Francisco Examiner reported, while environmentalists squabble over what large-scale renewable energy projects the program might fund.

Confusing? It's like this: participating utility customers will see an extra $10.24 to $29.78 per month on their bills beginning in October, when the program is scheduled to begin. That will pay for power purchased from Shell, the only company found to provide the renewable energy. That money, however, can then be used to build wind farms, solar farms -- in other worlds, to build the city's own renewable energy.

The PUC will create and present a build-out plan at its April 23 meeting, but program advocates warned that a hard-line stance from environmentalists could jeopardize the entire program.
 

Just when you thought it was safe to slam the green tech industry yet again, another sign that things are still popping.

Silver Spring Networks, which powers what we in Silicon Valley call "Smart Grids" (i.e., power plants, utilities), had its IPO this morning, and it was big. Oversubscribed by eager investors, at last check the stock price (SSNI) had already jumped by more than 25 percent.

Silver Spring is the latest indication that green power is still humming along. Tesla stock (TSLA) hit all-time highs this week, and Solar City (SCTY) has now seen its share price double since it went public recently.

All is not super smooth in green tech land, to be sure. Just today, electric car maker Fisker announced that its chairman has stepped down, as that company struggles to put cars on the road and make money.

It's not going to be an easy ride for green tech: too much competition, and the challenge to make money will always be there. But investors want in, at least for now, and that's always a good sign.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Tesla motors is reducing the number of workers on its Fremont assembly line as it gains experience building its new Model S more efficiently, says Tesla spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks.

"We hired them to get up through the ramp for Model S and as building the car becomes more efficient, contracts will be ending throughout the [financial] quarter," said Hendriks.

Most of the jobs - though not all - were temporary in nature she added. Hendriks declined to give specific numbers.

Tesla employs about 4,000 people nationwide, including administrative staff, retail sales, engineering and assembly. It does not break out the numbers for the assembly line specifically.

Historically, assembly line jobs are the most vulnerable as companies learn new ways of manufacturing or identify time and labor saving methods. Tesla has hired in other areas, particularly in engineering.

"Our current plan is to have more full-time people in the company at the end of [March] than at the end of last year. We will continue to hire in critical areas and our goal is to convert many temporary people to full-time employment," Hendriks said.

The company had said much the same in its letter to shareholders at the end of 2012. Tesla earlier this week delayed its 10k filing with the federal government - a separate document which also examines the past year's business.

The company blamed the delay on an accounting mistake but promised the error would not affect the overall bottom line.

Some investors and analysts have expressed concern over the company's overall cash flow. Tesla has completely tapped a federal loan and recently floated a secondary offering (sold more stock) in order to raise more money. In a separate matter, Tesla today lost a court case in Great Britain against the popular television show Top Gear.

The car company accused the BBC of faking a scene in which the Tesla Roadster sports car appears to run out of charge. Tesla said the show - known for its silliness and staged scenes - hurt sales.

A panel of judges found the suit had little chance of succeeding.

Two dolphins wandered into a wetlands area in Huntington Beach near Pacific Coast Highway Friday before apparently heading back out to sea.

Aerial video showed the dolphins swimming in a shallow area at about 10:20 a.m. The location is near Pacific Coast Highway and Warner Avenue (map).

Biologists told NBC4 the dolphins might have followed bait fish into the wetlands. The route winds from the Pacific Ocean, through Huntington Harbor, under a bridge and into the wetlands.

"They seem to be bonded in some way," said Keith Matassa, of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. "They do seem to not want to be separated. One is definitely coming in to be with the other, and they're staying together."

The dolphins appear healthy, officials said.

Aerial video showed rescue team members on boards paddling near the dolphins.

Police provided traffic control in the area.

In April, another wayward dolphin was in the area for about a week. It is believed that dolphin returned to sea.

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For the first time, researchers out of the University of Nevada, Reno have documented a Lake Tahoe fishing legend.

A new survey of the lake found giant goldfish. The fish are the same species you could find in a pet store aquarium.

The University of Nevada team was working with other researchers from UC Davis on a regularly scheduled survey of fish when they came across the creatures. The team uses a specialized boat with electrical probes that temporarily stun the fish for an official count. 

They told KCRA they were surprised when bright orange fish started floating to the top of the water.

Fishing guides have been talking about large orange fish in the lake for a while now, but the university researchers were the first to document them. 

This is not your average size pet store goldfish. These are ten times that size. 

The theory is that people with home aquariums are dumping the fish into the lake. Once outside the confines of an aquarium and into Lake Tahoe, the fish grow larger and larger.

Gold fish are not native to Lake Tahoe and there are fears they could upset the ecosystem.

Biologists told KCRA the goldfish could eat smaller fish. They also create new competition for native trout.

Earning reports are typically about sales, profits, and future forecasts.

In Tesla's latest report, you had to throw in a New York Times article.

Thanks to a week-long dust up over whether or not a NYT reporter was completely accurate in his story about a Tesla Model S stalling out on a test drive (a drama complete with blog posts and tweets from Tesla CEO Elon Musk), the focus on the Palo Alto automaker has been on its range, rather than its profitability.

Until now.

Moving past the article, Tesla just released its latest quarterly report. The last three months have been strong ones for the company; it continues to ramp up production of the Model S sedan, which is good news for those who have deposits down, and plan to buy the car.

Tesla says it sold about 2,400 Model S sedans over the last three months. It also says it will likely sell more over the next three months. That's good news for the company, which has to make those who put down deposits happy. Faster car production equals more sales equals eventual profits.

Tesla revenues came in at $306 million, beating analysts predictions, but earnings missed at  a net loss of 65 cents.

But for now, profits remain elusive. The company is still losing money, and after a recent run up in the stock price, investors are starting to sell after the earning report. As I write this, shares of Tesla (TSLA) are dropping slightly after hours. They're probably feeling pretty good about Tesla's goal of profitabilty next quarter. 

The best news? Tesla now seems to have zoomed past the NYT controversy, and is back to talking about car sales.

Scott can be found on Twitter: @scottbudman

Monday was a big day for Nissan, and the auto giant came to Silicon Valley to celebrate.

On the same day the company announces its 50,000th Leaf sale, it also opened a new research and development facility in Sunnyvale.

Not a bad twofer: The best-selling electric car of all time (so far), and a new way to lure engineers and other tech types to work on the future.

Nissan becomes the latest international car company to establish some sort of a research center here in Silicon Valley - joining the likes of Audi, Volkswagen, and Mercedes Benz. The lure? Smart techies who want to take a shot at designing and improving cars.

This is, after all, the home of alternative fuel companies like Solazyme, and of course, electric car maker Tesla. It's also now where lots of research gets done to help car companies headquartered all over the world.

Scott cruises on Twitter: @scottbudman

Thousands of dolphins spanning across 7 miles of ocean were sighted off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, a boat captain told NBC 7 San Diego.

Capt. Joe Dutra of Hornblower Cruises said he saw a “super mega-pod” of common dolphins Thursday around noon while he was on his daily tour. He said the pod was more than 7 miles long and 5 miles wide.

Dutra said the boat tour followed the pod for more than an hour and said he’s never seen anything like it.

“When you see something that is honestly truly beyond belief,” the captain said.

Guests aboard the boat started screaming and pointing when they first saw the school of adult and juvenile common dolphins. Dutra estimated there were about 100,000 dolphins swimming in the area.

“They were coming from all directions, you could see them from as far as the eye can see,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff out here… but this is the biggest I’ve ever seen, ever.”

Whale and dolphin watching tours have done particularly well this year, with dozens of animal sightings reported.

Marine mammal expert Sarah Wilkin said the reason the large pod might be there is because there’s plenty of food in the area, including sardines, herring and squid.

“They’re attracted to kind of the same thing, they might wind up in the same place,” she said.

Though dolphins typically travel in groups of 200 or less, Wilkin said “super-pods” are not unheard of.

“They’re definitely social animals, they stick together in small groups,” she said. “But sometimes, the schools come together.”

Dutra, who’s been boating for decades, said he felt lucky to enjoy such a rare phenomenon.

“You had to be there to experience it,” he said.  “It was truly spectacular.”

In an attempt to harvest the famous winds of San Francisco's western edge, an alternative energy company is installing a wind turbine at the site of the Cliff House, home to such forward-thinking contraptions as the Camera Obscura.

"The National Park Service actually has a mandate across the nation to lower its carbon footprint," said Alexandra Picavet, spokeswoman for the NPS, which owns the land.

The idea has been blowing around for several years, ever since the owners of the Cliff House approached their landlord, the park service, with an idea to install a turbine.

The 3-kilowatt system is intended to power the Cliff House's gift shop and part of the restaurant.

It's part of a three-year pilot project aimed at studying the safety and effectiveness of the technology.

"We believe we can do this down the coast," said Hamid Saadat, whose company Direct Nu Energy is installing the turbine. "We hope this is the start of other ones to come." 

The turbine uses vertical blades, as opposed to those propeller-like turbines which dot Altamont Pass. Engineers said the design will protect birds, bats and other wildlife.

"It'll be moving slowly," said engineer Randy Abraham. "The birds will be easily able to see them and stay away from them."

It took the National Park Service two years to vet all the neighbors' concerns about noise, and the obstruction of views at the Cliff House which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Engineers said the turbine is silent and installed low to blend-in with the Cliff House structure. Company officials say the turbine can also be enclosed in a protective cage if any birds are harmed.

National Park Service biologists said the site is not a known bird flyover spot. The project is set to be fully wired-up by the first week of March, providing the site with a clean source of wind-generated energy.

Car renters, meet car sharers.

Car rental giant Avis will buy car-sharing pioneer Zipcar for $491.2 million, the Associated Press reported.

Zipcar was founded in 2000 and was immediately successful.It now has 760,000 members, and its "Zipcar Lives Here" placards are familiar sights in many American cities and across the Bay Area.

Avis is eager to offer its fleet to Zipcar's customers, and Zipcar's customers may be happy to have the new supply of cars available on high-demand days like weekends.

Car-sharing differs from car-rental in that customers skip lines and go directly to a car on a lot or near a college campus. The car-sharing companies cover the cost of fuel in exchange for a more expensive 24-hour rental.

The deal was good for business. Shares on the stock market jumped 47 percent on Monday, and Avis will save as much as $70 million a year on expenses due to the deal.