State energy policies create jobs, save money
California's energy efficiency policies over the last 35 years have created 1.5 million jobs with a payroll of $45 billion and saved consumers $56 billion on energy costs, according to a report from UC Berkeley adjunct professor David Roland-Holst.
California's early adoption of energy-efficient building and appliance standards, fuel efficiencies and other conservation practices reduced consumer spending on electricity and natural gas. Those savings made more household dollars available for retail goods, services and food.
An economist with the university's Center for Energy, Resources, and Economic Sustainability, Roland-Holst also forecasted the economic impact of the more aggressive energy strategies proposed to meet the state's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. He concluded that, given California's ability to innovate and create new technologies, the pattern of job creation and money savings will continue.
The policies proposed in the California Air Resources Board draft plan, which the board will vote on in December, will achieve the reduction targets, he concluded. Additionally, those policies will increase the Gross State Product by $76 billion and create as many as 403,000 new jobs.
Roland-Holst produced the report, titled Energy Efficiency, Innovation and Job Creation in California, for the nonprofit Next 10 organization.
To learn about the ways UC innovations contribute to the state's economy, visit Science Today at www.ucop.edu/sciencetoday