Report Shows California's Push for Clean Energy is on the Right Path

Posted by: JackSawyer // Student

The California Green Innovation Index has come out with a report that supplies outstanding statistics to support California's progress on its renewable energy goals. The report examined California's energy production, clean patents/investments, and clean transportation. The results reveal substantial progress in all of the categories.

One all encompassing statistic that stood out was the fact that "adoption of solar power was up by 1,378 percent in five years. Wind power was up 155 percent in that period and biomass increased 10 percent"(Reports). These numbers demonstrate how California's aggressive approach to transition to renewable energy methods like solar, wind, and biomass is working. Furthermore, another encouraging piece of data coming from this report is the fact that "despite rising number of cars and trucks on California roads resulting in a 2.2 percent increase in total vehicle registrations between 2011 and 2014, greenhouse gas emissions from surface transportation actually decreased .8 percent in this period, as California's clean cars policies work to ensure that gasoline-powered vehicles are increasingly lower-emissions, and that alternative technologies are increasingly common" (Next 10).

These findings, along with many more detailed in the report, show that California has been able to successfully introduce clean energy policies and back a new clean energy market while avoiding any significant hiccups. Skeptics thought that a transition of this magnitude, especially to the sixth largest economy in the world, would be too risky and expensive but this report says otherwise.

What do you think of California's transition? Is there anything else the state can do to help expedite this clean energy transition? Can they help other states do the same?

Next 10. "CORRECTING and REPLACING Eighth Annual California Green Innovation Index Finds Explosive Growth in Solar Generation; Clean Technology Hotspots in Unexpected Places." Yahoo Finance. Yahoo, 29 June 2016. Web. 04 July 2016. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/eighth-annual-california-green-innovation-150000901.html>.

Reports, Staff. "Sacramento Valley Leads the Way in Residential Solar." Sacramento Valley Leads the Way in Residential Solar. ChicoER, 02 July 2016. Web. 04 July 2016. <http://www.chicoer.com/article/NA/20160702/NEWS/160709940>.