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OFFICIALS: INLAND EMPIRE TO PUSH CALIFORNIA'S GREEN ECONOMY
Green Valley Initiative regarded as a prominent part of the state's future.
CORONA, Calif. - Climate change and a shift in the global marketplace
have prompted California to reassess its role as a lead economic engine
for the nation.
Forecasts on Global Warming and our cooling economy are making it clear
that the future of this state - and of the nation - lies in clean, green
technologies that will enable people to reduce their carbon footprint,
cut back on energy use and our dependence on fossil and carbon-based
fuels, and harness the natural and boundless availability of sun and
wind to power our homes, businesses and vehicles.
"We are going to have to be far more aggressive in dealing with the
adaptation to climate change," California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi
proclaimed at
the recent Green Valley Summit held May 1-4 at the Ontario Convention
Center.
Challenges and Opportunities
Garamendi said current planning in Sacramento calls for a minimum of a
16-inch rise in the Pacific Ocean due to the melting of the solar ice
caps from Global Warming. "That dramatically alters the California water
system and almost everything that is along the coast of California,"
Garamendi said. The solution, he added, will be very expensive, but must
include a rational energy program that quickly moves the U.S. away from
carbon-based fuels. It's a solution that will bring about a new way of
thinking, a new way of doing business and a new, green economy for the
region.
Garamendi was one of several state and national experts to speak at the
summit, hosted by the Green Institute for Village Empowerment and its
Green Valley Initiative
an economic development program that
will translate the world's growing concern for the environment into new
opportunities to bring green jobs, renewable energies and sustainable
technologies to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Financing and Economic Growth
Famed economist Doug Henton, considered the
mastermind behind the Silicon Valley phenomenon of the 1990s, said the
Inland Empire will play a pivotal role in shaping California's emerging
green economy.
The key target areas for both counties lie in their current strengths:
the construction industry and manufacturing, warehousing and shipping,
he said. Henton has been commissioned by the Green Valley Initiative to
complete an analysis of the region and to chart a road map to help bring
the Green Valley vision to fruition.
The Green Valley Summit included positive forecasts from the experts
about investment capital and the availability of funding for green
technology, manufacturing and R&D.
"The flows of capital into the green sector are extraordinary and
accelerating," said California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who spoke during the
second day of the three-day summit.
California is committed to pursing alternative forms of energy, he said,
through initiatives such as the million solar roofs program, a
commitment to reduce overall greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by
2020, and requirements that utilities expand on their use of renewable
fuels.
Venture and investment capital is not only targeting green industry
start-ups, but more mature companies that are ready to take off, Lockyer
said. "Just in the last dozen years," he said, "the amount of investment
in green space in California has grown 40 times."
Marc Gottschalk, a partner and
specialist in environmental investment for Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich &
Rosati, headed a panel discussion on funding opportunities for green
tech in the region.
Green Valley Initiative
Other prominent speakers included Rachelle Chong,
commissioner of
the California Public Utilities Commission, who praised the Inland
Empire for its forward-thinking vision. Among some of the major
advancements locally for solar power, is an application by Southern
California Edison to install more than 2 square miles of solar panels on
warehouse rooftops in Fontana - the million solar roofs program - she
said.
Both she and Garamendi said the success of alternative energies and
sustainable technologies will depend largely on government subsidies and
tax credits.
"Keep in mind that the oil industry has had significant tax credits, tax
reductions, direct subsidies and indirect subsidies for more than a
century," Garamendi said, "and they have done very well at this point."
He encouraged people to lobby their legislators and policymakers to
support the promotion of green fuels and technologies.
Garamendi praised the Inland Empire for the action taken so far on the
Green Valley Initiative.
"I'm excited with what you are doing here," he said. "It's important.
This needs to be replicated throughout California and throughout the
rest of the nation."
