California's energy efficiency an economic boon

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/26/MNSI15G378.DTL

California's energy efficiency an economic boon

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, January 26, 2009

If President Obama is serious about creating a green economy, he should look to California.

A new report shows that, since the 1970s when the state government first started requiring more energy-efficient buildings and appliances, California has grown more prosperous and added jobs even as its citizens cut the amount of energy they use and the greenhouse gases they produce. Despite the current economic crisis, which finds the state in a budget and job quandary, the findings should provide ammunition to those who want Obama to launch a green revolution, encouraging renewable power and energy efficiency as a way of generating jobs during the recession.

The 2009 California Green Innovation Index conducted by the public policy group Next 10 tracks how the state's economy has grown over the past three decades. Cutting energy bills let California consumers and companies spend their cash on other things, and helped create 1.5 million jobs, according to the report.

"If California had not moved as forcefully to decrease energy consumption over the last three decades, we would be in a much more precarious economic position right now," said F. Noel Perry, venture capitalist and founder of Next 10. "Imagine where the country could be if it were as efficient as California."

…