Looking Back to the Future

Former governor Jerry Brown and other state leaders who paved the way for alternative energy were honored September 14 to remind a wide spectrum of energy stakeholders how far the state has come in green energy development—and how far it has to go. The work of the former Democratic administration and legislators was applauded, but it was not strictly a partisan affair. The Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies sponsored the event celebrating the unprecedented steps taken in the 1970s by these lawmakers to keep nuclear power at bay, promote conservation, and jump-start renewable energy technologies. For instance, the current Democratic lawmakers? successful efforts to kill Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger?s ?million solar homes? bill were condemned. ?I don?t care if the devil is carrying the solar homes bill, I?m for it,? said Brown, who was governor from 1975 to 1983. The bill, authored by Senator Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) and belatedly backed by Schwarzenegger, died on the Assembly floor at the end of the session ( Circuit , September 3, 2004). In the 1970s, the young California Energy Commission concluded after extensive hearings that radioactive nuclear wastes could not be safely disposed of, which halted nuclear plant licensing. During Brown?s administration, significant investments were made in cogeneration, geothermal energy, and the then-nascent solar and wind energy industries to fill the power gap left by the controversial decision to stop new nuclear power projects. Dan Richard, Pacific Gas & Electric senior vice president, recognized Brown for awakening the public to the importance of protecting the planet and the need for limiting consumption. ?Ideas can change the world,? added Senator Byron Sher (D-Palo Alto), who authored the bill creating the renewables portfolio standard and is leaving the Senate because of term limits.

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Looking Back to the Future

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