[Greenbuilding] The Gubernator and global warming

[Chris Green]

Lawrence Lile wrote:
>  Have people been paying attention to California's move to cap global
> warming emissions? What do we make of it, is it a gesture or does it
> have real teeth.  I take back what I said about Der Gubernator, maybe he
> actually gets it.  "Global Varming?  Varm THIS!" sez Arnold.   
>   
The legislation is not to take full effect until 2012, but the target is 
for a 25% reduction in emissions by 2020.
Amazingly, the agreed-upon legislation falls short of what Arnold 
wanted, according to this quote from the NYTimes.
> That left the governor to decide whether the final language fell so 
> far short of his wishes that he could take the political risk during 
> an election year of vetoing a signature piece of environmental 
> legislation whose aims he had supported.
Arnold signed on to the compromise deal after being informed that the 
legislation would be passed by the Assembly and Senate anyways.

The real benefit of this legislation is that a lot of improved 
technology will have to be developed to meet part of these goals. When 
the European Economic Union was being designed, it was decided that the 
EEU would adopt as a baseline the highest standards in the participating 
nations--they didn't opt out for the cheapest or easiest standards--and 
over the years, the nations  which signed on met those standards. The 
EEU set the goal posts high, and the people there achieved them.
There's a lesson in that.
Because of the size of the market in California, and ultimately 
everywhere else, once the legislation is passed in the next few days or 
weeks, the money to develop technologies to meet or beat the standards 
will be more readily available from the investment community because the 
money people will have the confidence that a market exists for the 
technologies.

To paraphrase W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe ( the movie A Field of 
Dreams): "Build it and they will come (and buy it.)."
They have to.

Chris Green.