California prides itself on being on the cutting-edge of new technologies as well as being the historical home of many important environmentally-friendly legislation.
But according to Professor Peter Lehman of Humboldt State University, over the last 20 years California has in fact ceded its position as world leader in the development of alternative and renewable energy to several European nations and Japan.
Prof. Lehman who heads the Schatz Energy Research Center which promotes “clean and renewable energy,” notes that the advances abroad have been both technological and cultural:
It’s become such a status symbol in Japan to have solar panels on your roof… that there is a company in Japan that sells fake solar panels so that you can put them on your roof and pretend to your neighbors that you have solar panels on your roof.
That’s certainly quite a difference from the American marketplace where some might say the newly introduced “super SUV’s” by Ford and GM give neighbors a chance to show off their prowess at energy consumption — rather that energy production.
In the following interview, Prof. Lehman discusses the history and future of renewable energy research and development in California.
- Peter Lehman, PhD, Department of Environmental Resources Engineering, Humboldt State University
- Schatz Energy Research Center, Humboldt State University
- Policies to Promote Non-hydro Renewable Energy in the United States and Selected Countries, Energy Information Administration
- “Fuelling the Future,” In Depth series, BBC News
- Government initiatives on solar energy, Solarbuzz.com
- New and Renewable Energies, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, European Commission
- Renewable Energy Publications, Electricity Market and Policy area, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
- Eurosolar, The European Association for Renewable Energy