Now in the middle of the summer months, energy usage throughout California inevitably has become a significant issue on the minds of millions of residents. Underscoring this reality will, of course, be the sticker shock that many Californians will experience when they open those summertime utility bills.

Comstock’s monthly look at the business news in the Capital Region. So what happened in July (and the tail end of June)?

With Californians paying some of the highest gasoline prices around, it is no surprise that fuel efficiency ranks as one of the top considerations for purchasing a new vehicle. Miles per gallon or “MPG” is the metric buyers use to estimate how much it will cost to fill up their tank for their daily commute. But transportation isn’t the only major purchase with long-term energy costs: homes have them too.

Just off of the historic Lincoln Highway, Old Town Galt is getting a second chance at life as revival efforts bring new events and businesses to the downtown streets. The newest addition, The Coffee Shop Bakery, embraces small-town pride, classic cars and coffeecake.

According to numbers from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the region needs to be building an average of 12,000 homes per year to meet demand. Here are five projects in the works: 

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments reported that between 2013 and 2021, the region needs to build about 105,000 housing units to meet demand. Dividing that number by the nine years means almost 12,000 units per year.

Darryl Rutherford, executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance, says there’s no easy answer to the Capital Region’s housing crisis, but here he offers some possible solutions being explored.

One of the most pressing topics right now in housing is low inventory. Frankly, there just aren’t enough homes for sale in the Sacramento region, and it’s a problem. If you’ve bought or tried to buy recently, you certainly know this.

The departure of long-established but undocumented Mexicans from California is a signal — along with other government data from the southwest border — that the flow of unauthorized immigration is shifting direction, perhaps dramatically.

Students at UC Davis are building a house. Not just any house, but a solar-powered house, one with the potential to be as affordable as it is innovative and, above all, energy efficient.