California’s new Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has had a very active first few weeks in office. The former San Francisco Mayor is more or less on the same page as Governor Jerry Brown regarding the budget even though Newsom has questioned cuts to higher education.
But the Lieutenant Governor is continuing his work in establishing so-called “green initiatives” to promote and create sustainability in business and life in general.
Last week Newsom appeared at the forum State of Green Business 2011 in San Francisco. The event was sponsored by Greenbiz.com.
In an interview with Greenbiz founder Joel Makower, the Democratic office holder outlined three main goals for his tenure that includes statewide charging stations for electric cars, utility rate reform to encourage clean energy and a drive to retrofit existing building to increase sustainability and create jobs.
He called the state’s unemployment rate “depression-era” and said that building retrofits on a widespread basis could revitalize the building trades.
“(Invest a) billion dollars, you create 7 thousand jobs,” he says.
Wave energy was also floated by the former mayor but that scheme seems further from realization.
Newsom had numerous green achievements in San Francisco. His statewide efforts could mirror that success.
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