California expected to benefit from anti-global warming plan

Source: Xinhua | 09-19-2008 10:08

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- California's ambitious anti-global warming plan would boost the state's expected 2.6-trillion-dollar gross product by 4 billion dollars, the Los Angeles Times said on Thursday.

The plan would also create 100,000 additional jobs and increase per capita income by 200 dollars, the state Air Resources Board said in a report published by the paper.

"These are good-news numbers," board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said. "We are not claiming this is the way to economic salvation. But making our state more energy-efficient and less reliant on imported oil . . . will have a net positive effect."

California is poised to adopt the nation's most comprehensive plan to slash emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which come mostly from burning fossil fuels.

A draft blueprint, to be finalized by the end of the year, would force utilities to produce a third of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources, require automakers to sell cars that are more fuel-efficient, and wedge energy-saving measures into home-building, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy, according to the report.

In the second quarter of 2008, California topped world investment in clean-technology venture capital, receiving 800 million dollars of the global total of 2 billion dollars, the report said.

But business groups are unhappy about the plan which, they said, would cause companies to flee to states or countries with less restrictive laws.

Utilities already have said they will fall short of complying with a current law requiring 20 percent of their electricity to come from renewables by 2010, the paper said.

The air board's economic analysis acknowledged that effects will vary among different sectors of the economy. The agriculture, fishing and forestry sector would see 3.7 percent growth by 2020, partly because of investment in forestry for storing carbon, Nichols said.

But two sectors would suffer: Utilities would experience a 15.9percent drop in output and a 13.8 percent drop in employment because households and businesses would need less power as they conserve more energy, according to the report.

The retail trade sector is projected to drop 1.5 percent, mainly because of a decrease in retail sales of gasoline.

In another report released Wednesday, the board found that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would result in an estimated 300fewer premature deaths in 2020 and slash the number of cases of asthma and other respiratory illnesses by 9,000.

The loss of 53,000 work days would be avoided, the report found.

Editor:Du Xiaodan