A Fresno patent attorney wanted to learn about the most pressing legal needs of clean energy companies in the San Joaquin Valley.
Your emailed question got me thinking. The industry is still in its infancy, but you probably won’t be entertained by Huggies for long, especially if oil prices continue to climb, as analysts suggest. Oil-price.net still lists a barrel at $ 99 in its one-year forecast, and pump prices continue to climb.
In my response to this attorney, I included concerns about the solar, energy efficiency, and biomass industries.
“Land use is a big problem,” I wrote. “I heard that due to the increasing difficulties in getting federal land secured, solar companies are moving to get private land deals. So far, those are with municipalities and small solar power operations, combining them with wastewater sites ( large electricity users) in the hinterland.. “
I also mentioned the potential interest of Westlands farmers seeking a new source of income for farmland due to restrictions on irrigation water. Hundreds of acres of dry and dead grape fields and orchards welcome passersby into this incredibly fertile sun-drenched valley.
My co-worker Sandy Nax, who was also my compatriot at the Fresno Bee business table, now suspended, says that the Central Valley is a true Petri dish for clean energy with its abundant sun, wind in the foothills of the Sierra, Methane Rich Dairy Waste & Bio – Plant Rich Farmland.
If a number of studies turn out to be correct (that clean energy will produce scores of jobs across the country and in California), I think those affected by powerful American entrepreneurship will play a role. I told the patent attorney to keep an eye on start-ups, especially those related to water and biomass.
For example, the fine of more than $ 800,000 that the US Environmental Protection Agency recently imposed on two biomass plants in Merced and Madera counties will likely concern people in that industry. Fresno Bee’s Mark Grossi called it “one of the state’s largest air pollution fines in recent history.”
Biomass defines the process of burning woody material and agricultural waste to generate electricity. Emissions are part of that, as they are for methane biogas.
Another sector worth looking at, perhaps from a lawyer’s perspective, is construction. Net zero homes, passive home movement, and others are likely to become dominant features of the new home market. A part of that is modernizations, something that we are quite familiar with at the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization.
The practice of auditing buildings and improving systems that show inefficiencies is gaining traction and consumer interest. Some big players are starting to do this elsewhere. For example, the Empire State Building is now a model of efficiency after a massive overhaul.
I was talking about the state of the clean energy movement with Valley hydrogen energy expert Gene Johnson and he said the best bet for change is talking about it with our young people. “Education is the key to all of this,” he said.
I convinced him to be one of the potential speakers in a program where we are working with Valley high schools and colleges to prepare students for clean energy and entrepreneurial opportunities. Gene is one of those amazing people who can inspire people after 5 minutes in his presence. For example, he decided he wanted a hydrogen-powered car, so he converted a bright yellow Chevy SSR to run on clean-burning fuel.
Gene is quite optimistic about the future of clean energy. “Once people see the prices of food and gasoline go up … they will realize that self-sufficiency is the best way to deal with that,” he said. Gene’s definition of self-sufficiency is quite comprehensive and refers to the fact that the United States can produce all of its own energy, from multiple sources.
Sandy and I keep up with the news, and on clean energy and energy efficiency it looks pretty good. Our hope is that this industry will take off in the next two years. That may be optimistic, but things are definitely happening.
The jolt of federal stimulus money didn’t hurt. But it is limited. In fact, we are working on a couple of stimulus grants that expire in the next 12 months. So we are biased, a little bit.
We were encouraged by a post on grist.org by Bracken Hendricks and Jorge Madrid with the Center for American Progress in which they called “clean energy technology one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy and is projected to grow to $ 2.3 billion by 2020. “
They also said that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the official name for stimulus money) sustained the nation’s fledgling clean energy industry when it was struggling due to the economy and global competition.
Great to hear that. I put a comment on your post saying so much.
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