By Susan Kraemer •
September 27, 2009
The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the largest energy efficiency program in U.S. history, authorizing $3.1 billion in consumer rebates and efficiency programs over the next three years. This brings the state a giant step closer to implementing AB32, according to Lara Ettenson, director of California Energy Efficiency Policy at the NRDC.
Ettenson told me that the funding comes from the part of the budget that California’s regulated utilities may use to invest in conventional electricity. This may include “negawatts” [...]
By Clayton B. Cornell •
September 24, 2009
In response to the contention caused by Meg Whitman’s OP-Ed on rescinding AB32 climate-change legislation, and the pointed response by Mayor Gavin Newsom, CleanTechnica.com is formally offering to host a discussion between the two gubernatorial candidates.
By Gavin Newsom •
September 24, 2009
Meg Whitman penned an op-ed last week stating she’d suspend California’s landmark climate-change legislation, AB32, on her first day if elected governor. This is backwards thinking, and I disagree.
Experts estimate that the four largest clean-energy industries (solar, wind, biofuels, and fuel-cell) will have combined annual revenues of $255 billion by the middle of the next decade. The question isn’t whether the world will move towards cleaner living – the question is how soon this trend will take hold.
There is no better, more fertile place in the United States for green technology and green-collar jobs to take shape than California.
California’s challenge is competitiveness, grasping as much of the share of these markets as possible by being the industry leader in greenhouse gas abatement technology. To date, we’ve done a great job – California captured $6.6 billion in green capital between 2006-2008. And all these start-ups need workers; so green jobs have the potential to be for California what the defense industry was in 1980s.
