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building standards. In other words, the public colleges are leading the way to
renewable energy in their facilities.
Part of the evidence for the political and economic success rests in the fact
that the Board of Directors for the California Community College District
appointed the Chancellor for the LACCD (Mark Drummond) to head the entire
state system in 2004, the largest higher education systems in the United States
with over 108 campuses and over 1.2 million students. The advancement of
“green” college buildings throughout the state will certainly be far more rapid
and cost effective. The political and economic repercussions to this are
significant. Local communities are the market drivers for renewable and clean
energy systems.
In California, the mass purchasing of sustainable systems has reduced
the price and expedited the implementation of these systems. The state and the
agencies and programs that it funds are a huge market, and the mobilization of
this market is large enough to change the economics for the production
of many items. The state mandated some level of internal consumption of
recycled paper, green building, and renewable energy, for example, which
creates enough of a market to help establish these industries at a level in which
they have economies of scale and become cost competitive in open and
unsubsidized markets. Many examples exist of this financing practice such as
the state purchase of police and other vehicles, which are zero emission, to the
Energy Star program for energy-saving appliances and efficient equipment.
The Department of General Services has led the state in this effort and
included new technologies, such as fuel cells and solar devices (CSFCC,
2002).
Government partnerships rather than regulatory power help create more
successful programs to meet civic goals. Using moral persuasion and the
legitimacy of the state, governments can lead by demonstrating their will-
ingness to invest in what they are telling private companies to do. California
has the public policies and mechanisms in place for local and regional clean
distributed energy systems. The State Government Code already provides for
Community Energy Authorities (No. 5200) for local and regional energy
systems (not municipal utilities). With local governments, the private sector,
educational and research institutions, as well as nonprofits all working together
as partners, clean energy is viable along a business model for recovering costs
and providing for innovation and change.
Promotion of dispute resolution and conflict mediation as a way to resolve
differences between private firms and state agencies or programs. The
competitive model is based on a winelose model, whereas economic growth
and public interests are increased with winewin responses to differences of
opinion on what direction the power system should take.
The public role in partnerships is often and most importantly the collection
of information and data on power demand, technological change, environ-
mental resources and pollution, and national and global trends. As discussed in