California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

About 3.2 billion of the planet’s 6.2 billion people have energy-intensive lives. Add on
another 3 billion people to that figure by mid century and that means an ever increasing
energy demand.

One promising source is solar, a new rush — in the Golden State is on for its golden
rays of sun. Since late 2006 the BLM has been was flooded with 130 proposals to use
public land for solar installations, about half of them in California’s San Bernardino County,
the nation’s largest county.

California’s mandate for renewable energy is fueling this new solar gold rush. The state
requires investor-owned utilities to get 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources
by 2010. As of last year, they were at 13 percent.

But concerns exist related to the location of solar energy facilities. Off-highway vehicle
enthusiasts fear losing access to public lands. Environmental concerns are focused on
habitat for the desert tortoise, which is listed as threatened in the Mojave Desert under
the nation’s Endangered Species Act. Thus a creative plan by Southern California Edison
involves placing panels on top of unused commercial building rooftops across the southland.
At its peak, the $875 million investment will produce 250 MW of electricity - that's the
equivalent of the power required by 162,000 homes supporting a community in excess of
400,000, all done without impacting the desert tortoise.

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.