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"This is the breakout growth sector of the next generation," said the author of Next 10's report, "Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California".

David Roland-Holst, a professor of agriculture and resource economics at UC Berkeley. "We cannot afford to miss this market opportunity."

California's per-capita electricity use is about 40% less than the national average, Roland-Holst said, largely because of government-mandated energy efficiency standards for utilities, buildings and appliances put into effect over the last four decades.

Roland-Holst found that the lower use has enabled Californians to save $56 billion on energy since 1972. That money was spent in the local economy, he said, instead of on imported oil, out-of-state electricity or building new power plants. The result: 1.5 million additional California jobs with a total payroll exceeding $45 billion.

Programs like AB 32 will have a multiplier effect

Next 10's report calculates that energy innovation required by AB 32 will create 403,000 green-collar jobs over the next 12 years as companies spend big on renewables and energy efficiency. Roland-Holst said that would increase household income in California by as much as $48 billion by 2020 and boost the state domestic product by $76 billion.

California's Environmental Innovation Advantage

Some of California's leading companies agree with Roland-Holst's assessment that environmental innovation could become a pillar of the California economy.

Read more about the report: Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California (by David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley, Oct. 2008)

Solar Energy
Solar energy is one of the most abundant and visible renewable resources on Earth. Many national, state, and local governments are engaged in programs to expand programs that enable homes, businesses, and large-scale project developers to make use of this clean energy resource.

Solar power technologies convert radiant light energy to into more usable forms of energy such as electricity or hot water. Photovoltaic cells made from silicon are the most well know, and can leverage mature silicon electronics manufacturing technology to lower their manufacturing cost in order to expand their market reach. Other solar technologies concentrate the sunlight into a small area to heat a working fluid such as water to generate electric power or provide useful hot water for space conditioning.

Ardour Global Alternative Energy Indexes provide investment fund information.

Southern California Edison will install 250 megawatts of solar panels on 65 million square feet of roofs - that’s two square miles - of Southern California commercial buildings at a cost of $875 million. That project will be the nation’s largest solar cell installation.

Enough solar to power 162,000 homes.

In the initial phase of the program, SoCal Edison will lease 607,000 square feet of roof space at ProLogis’ Kaiser Distribution Park in Fontana, California. The area will be used to install and maintain solar panels with the potential to generate enough electricity to power 1,426 households for one year.

At the conclusion of the start-up phase, which will include five to 10 additional installations and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, the utility will launch its full renewable energy project, aiming to complete 50 megawatts of solar panel installations each year for a total of 250 MW. Each individual installation is expected to comprise one to two megawatts.

“I urge others to follow in their footsteps,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “If commercial buildings statewide partnered with utilities to put this solar technology on their rooftops, it would set off a huge wave of renewable energy growth.”

SCE hopes to have the first solar rooftops in service by August. The company says it will install at the rate of one megawatt a week.

The program would give a big boost to California’s Million Solar Roofs program and help SCE meet a state requirement to get 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2010.

Financing Solar Installations

Environmental Leader reported that solar companies are becoming financial intermediaries, leading companies to install solar power that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

Using a “power-purchase agreement” model, many solar power companies take on the cost of installing solar panels on customers’ roofs. In return, customers pay the solar power company for the panels’ output, generally at a lower rate than they would otherwise pay.

The power purchase model is also attracting bankers - Morgan Stanley, G.E. Energy Financial Services, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and MMA Renewable Ventures have all arranged financing for recent solar energy projects.

Besides the financing, state incentives and a federal investment tax credit (worth up to 30 cents on the dollar) are also driving adoption.