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California Treasurer Bill Lockyer proposed a $500 million bond to pay for installing solar and other renewable projects, as well as energy efficiency retrofits on state-owned buildings. In an August 14 announcement, the former Attorney General said he not only wants to curb energy use and associated greenhouse gases from California’s largest building owner and operator, but also create a state bank to store carbon credits generated by public agencies. “The point is to spur growth in the green technology sector, innovate product design and make them cheaper,” said Tom Dresslar, Lockyer’s spokesperson. Lockyer plans to place a “green state buildings bond” on the November 2008 ballot. Environmentalists, however, want to see an expansion of what could be financed under such an initiative. “State buildings should not be the only item included in a green bond,” said V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies. But, Lockyer decided against including all government buildings in the bond measure, including at the local level, and/or privately-owned edifices, according to Dresslar. “We made a calculation as to what is doable during the November elections,” he said. A capital insider, who declined attribution, doubts the green state building bond will get off the ground, particularly given the current state budget battle. ”I don’t see how it will get the needed two-thirds vote to issue more debt when there’s already a big fight over the amount of debt we currently have, and an ongoing controversy over huge budget shortfalls next year.” The state owns 206,000 million square feet of real estate. The state buildings total annual energy bill is about $525 million. Doubling the currently mandated 20 percent efficiency rate for state buildings alone, as proposed by Lockyer, would cut state energy use by an estimated 1,100 MW. The timing of the announcement, according to the Treasurer’s Office, coincides with the near completion of an evaluation of state building energy use and measures to curb power use and carbon emissions underway by the Department of General Services. “We thought we were ready to talk about it” given the pending implementation of AB 32, the state’s global warming bill, and the governor’s executive order requiring higher efficiency in state owned buildings, according to Dresslar. The bond proposal, which currently lacks specifics, would dedicate $3.5 million to a wide array of off grid solar projects on state buildings to create a hoped for 450 MW. Another $900,000 would be spent on fuel cells to produce an estimated 150 MW. The remaining $600,000 would be for efficiency retrofits to save 1,100 MW. A draft of the bond proposal is not expected to be released until next year. Also on the table is creating a state bank to store carbon credits reaped by energy savings and carbon reductions created by replacing fossil-fuel power with renewable energy projects and conservation measures. Lockyer wants to use state authority to create a carbon credit bank in the event the California Air Resources Board launches a carbon cap and trade market under AB 32, as expected. Profits generated form the carbon credit sales would be used to fund environmental justice projects.

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