Green Industry

One in every four solar energy jobs in America is held by a Californian, and growth in the clean-tech industry is burgeoning nationwide, a new study said. In August, California had an estimated 25,575 solar-related jobs out of 100,237 for all 50 states, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2011. The census is scheduled for release Monday by the Solar Foundation, a research and education organization in Washington. California's solar jobs tally was more than four times greater than runner-up Colorado.

One in every four solar energy jobs in America is held by a Californian, and growth in the clean-tech industry is burgeoning nationwide, a new study said. In August, California had an estimated 25,575 solar-related jobs out of 100,237 for all 50 states, according to the National Solar Jobs Census 2011. The census is scheduled for release Monday by the Solar Foundation, a research and education organization in Washington. California's solar jobs tally was more than four times greater than runner-up Colorado.

During his more than three decades in real estate David Pogue played many roles, but environmental expert was never one of them. That didn't stop his company, Los Angeles real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis, from naming him the company guru of all things eco-friendly nearly two years ago. Pogue suddenly found himself in charge of making the firm and its projects more energy efficient and environmentally conscious, an abrupt switch from his previous...

Jerry Brown ran for governor promising to revive the economy through an aggressive expansion of California's green-energy industry ? but that agenda could prove costly to consumers. Brown wants the state to make major new investments in solar and wind power: building large-scale power plants that run on renewable resources and placing solar panels on parking-lot roofs, school buildings and along the banks of state highways. Although advocates of renewable energy tout the long-term savings of going green, billions of dollars would be required to reach the governor-elect's green-energy goals.

A state senator Wednesday declared that the leafy green industry requires more stringent state regulation and criticized the California Department of Health Services for overseeing a "very, very poor and lax system" to prevent E. coli outbreaks caused by produce. "With 45 inspectors, 5,500 processing plants and 100,000 farms, that seems to be putting us well behind where we should be," said Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) at a legislative oversight meeting.

After weeks of bickering over how to cut the deficit-ridden budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed Monday to trim $1.1 billion from mass transit but give new tax breaks to home buyers and green-technology companies. The governor, who signed part of the package into law Monday evening, said the tax incentives -- which could add to the budget woes -- are crucial to the state's economic recovery. "The package of bills as written will provide significant benefit to the state's general fund and will help put Californians back to work," he said in a statement.

New Jersey already has dibs on the Garden State. So let's call California the Gardening State. Here's the reason: Californians spend nearly $10 billion each year to maintain their yards, trim golf courses, landscape freeways and generally keep the Golden State looking green, a new UC Berkeley study has found. But we also spend more on gardening for the dead than for our schoolchildren.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to boost rates at the Department of Water and Power has drawn an outcry from business leaders who fear that his promise to create "green jobs" will be accomplished at the expense of their own workers. As he pushes the City Council to approve rate increases of up to 22% for businesses, Villaraigosa's clean-air ambitions have run head-first into his job goals -- and his promise to treat L.A.-based companies with extra care. Villaraigosa delighted business leaders two months ago when he hired a retired investment banker as his new "jobs czar" and offered to refocus his administration on the economy.

Green businesses are blooming in California, creating jobs at a faster pace than the broader economy, a new study has found. The report from Next 10 , a nonprofit research group in Palo Alto, explores California's "core green economy," including areas such as research and advocacy, finance and investment, energy efficiency, recycling and building. The study, to be released today, determined that the number of green companies surged 45% from 1995 to 2008, and total jobs in areas such as energy efficiency, renewable fuels and clean tech grew 36%. During the same period general employment in the state expanded just 13%. From January 2007 to January 2008 green jobs increased 5% while total jobs declined 1%. The number of green jobs in the Golden State jumped to 159,000 in 2008 from 117,000 in 1995, an average annual growth rate of 2.4%, according to what Next 10 called "the most comprehensive accounting" of the sector ever conducted.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers say new tax breaks they created this week for so-called green businesses won't cost taxpayers a cent. But economists, tax experts and budget analysts say such a claim is misleading. The new law allows companies to forgo paying sales tax on any green-technology manufacturing equipment they buy. There is no limit on how much machinery is eligible for the exemption. And rules governing what corporations can qualify leave room for businesses beyond solar, wind and geothermal companies to avoid the taxes.

The Obama administration, facing increasing political pressure to address complaints about China's economic policies, said Friday that it was investigating whether China was illegally subsidizing its clean-tech industry ? even as officials put off a difficult decision on whether to cite Beijing as a currency manipulator. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said his office was probing allegations filed last month by the United Steelworkers Union that China was assisting its domestic producers of wind, solar and electric car products with protectionist and subsidy policies in violation of World Trade Organization rules.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers say new tax breaks they created this week for so-called green businesses won't cost taxpayers a cent. But economists, tax experts and budget analysts say such a claim is misleading. The new law allows companies to forgo paying sales tax on any green-technology manufacturing equipment they buy. There is no limit on how much machinery is eligible for the exemption. And rules governing what corporations can qualify leave room for businesses beyond solar, wind and geothermal companies to avoid the taxes.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to boost rates at the Department of Water and Power has drawn an outcry from business leaders who fear that his promise to create "green jobs" will be accomplished at the expense of their own workers. As he pushes the City Council to approve rate increases of up to 22% for businesses, Villaraigosa's clean-air ambitions have run head-first into his job goals -- and his promise to treat L.A.-based companies with extra care. Villaraigosa delighted business leaders two months ago when he hired a retired investment banker as his new "jobs czar" and offered to refocus his administration on the economy.

After weeks of bickering over how to cut the deficit-ridden budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed Monday to trim $1.1 billion from mass transit but give new tax breaks to home buyers and green-technology companies. The governor, who signed part of the package into law Monday evening, said the tax incentives -- which could add to the budget woes -- are crucial to the state's economic recovery. "The package of bills as written will provide significant benefit to the state's general fund and will help put Californians back to work," he said in a statement.

During his more than three decades in real estate David Pogue played many roles, but environmental expert was never one of them. That didn't stop his company, Los Angeles real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis, from naming him the company guru of all things eco-friendly nearly two years ago. Pogue suddenly found himself in charge of making the firm and its projects more energy efficient and environmentally conscious, an abrupt switch from his previous...

Green businesses are blooming in California, creating jobs at a faster pace than the broader economy, a new study has found. The report from Next 10 , a nonprofit research group in Palo Alto, explores California's "core green economy," including areas such as research and advocacy, finance and investment, energy efficiency, recycling and building. The study, to be released today, determined that the number of green companies surged 45% from 1995 to 2008, and total jobs in areas such as energy efficiency, renewable fuels and clean tech grew 36%. During the same period general employment in the state expanded just 13%. From January 2007 to January 2008 green jobs increased 5% while total jobs declined 1%. The number of green jobs in the Golden State jumped to 159,000 in 2008 from 117,000 in 1995, an average annual growth rate of 2.4%, according to what Next 10 called "the most comprehensive accounting" of the sector ever conducted.

The newest management firm in Hollywood has no name. But it has snagged some of the biggest names in entertainment. Continuing a long tradition of entrepreneurial spinoffs by representatives of actors, directors and writers, a collection of six talent managers announced Wednesday that they had come together to create their own business.

It's a vacant lot now, but Los Angeles officials hope to turn the former brownfield site downtown into a cluster of "green" manufacturing businesses to meet the region's growing demand for solar and wind power and other clean technologies. The proposed CleanTech Manufacturing Center would be established on a city-owned 20-acre parcel in an industrial area near the intersection of 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, south of the 10 Freeway and west of the Los Angeles River.

It's a vacant lot now, but Los Angeles officials hope to turn the former brownfield site downtown into a cluster of "green" manufacturing businesses to meet the region's growing demand for solar and wind power and other clean technologies. The proposed CleanTech Manufacturing Center would be established on a city-owned 20-acre parcel in an industrial area near the intersection of 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, south of the 10 Freeway and west of the Los Angeles River.

For more than a generation, great cities in the American West have sought to repossess, regain or even re-create the rivers that run through them. San Antonio vaunts its 60-year-old Riverwalk as Texas' foremost tourist attraction. Dallas takes pride in the Trinity River it has reclaimed as a chain of lakes and greenbelt. And Denver has its South Platte River Initiative. Los Angeles wants its river back too, and decades-long restoration efforts are underway. If and when a people-friendly Los Angeles River emerges from its concrete flood-control coffin, it would be our city's greatest work of collective imagination.