A University of California study has found that more aggressive use of clean energy would help the state emerge from its $24 billion budget deficit by creating jobs and lowering energy costs.
The study by researchers at UC Berkeley says clean energy grows the economy faster than traditional sources.
The study's author is UC Berkeley economics professor David Roland-Holst.
He says state legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions will create a new clean energy market.
"By shifting our energy demand within the state from external sources to in-state sources, we capture a lot more of the downstream benefits and the upstream benefits," Roland-Holst says. "So there's a lot more employment generation within the state and within the domestic economy."
Roland-Holst says relying on renewable sources for 50 percent of California's electric power would create 500,000 jobs over the next 40 years.
He also says continuing on a business-as-usual energy path risks greater economic insecurity.
Roland-Holst says hishttp://are.berkeley.edu/~dwrh/CERES_Web/index.html is the first to use a wide-ranging economic forecasting tool to study the potential effects of clean energy on the entire California economy.
