eNews Update | August 2013 | www.ca-greenbusinessalliance.com                                         Like us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter

Greetings!    

 
It's been a busy summer as the Business Alliance has been focused on supporting and promoting the state's clean energy standards while also responding to attacks on those policies. Read my latest blog post Setting the Record Straight (Again): Small Businesses Not Harmed by AB 32, which also was published in The California Majority Report.

As always, you can check out the latest news and op-eds from Business Alliance members and other opinion leaders by reading this
 recap of op-eds. You can also look at past issues of the eNews here.
 
Please make sure to visit our Facebook page and Twitter Feed for daily updates. Thank you for your continued support. 

 

~Susan Frank
Director, California Business Alliance for a Green Economy

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Featured on the Blog 

Setting the Record Straight (Again): Small Business Not Harmed by AB 32    

By Susan Frank, Director, California Business Alliance for a Green Economy

 

I do my best to avoid responding directly to groundless attacks on California's clean energy and climate law (AB 32), but this latest incident demands some truth-telling. John Kabateck of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) makes claims in a Fox and Hounds op-ed that are consistent with the dirty energy and old manufacturing industry arguments against AB 32, and which belie logic and fact.

 

He repeatedly claims that small businesses are being harmed by AB 32 provisions, including falsely suggesting that small business owners will need "to bid significant amounts of money for 'carbon emission credits' in order to keep operating." In fact, small businesses are not required to bid on credits at all as the cap and trade auctions only applies to the state's biggest emitters - a small fraction of the businesses that operate in California. 


Furthermore, research shows that AB 32 will not have a significant impact on small business and that there are tremendous opportunities for small businesses - the very drivers of California's rebounding economy - under the law.

 

Read the full blogpost here.

Featured Member Op-Ed  

 
High Oil Prices Pump Up Concerns

By Charlie Feder, Owner of Rossmoor Pastries, a 50-year-old Signal Hill bakery serving Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties 
July 29, 2013

 

Summer is under way, with its barbecues, parades, beach trips - and higher gas prices. And Angeleenos recently found themselves paying a dizzying 11 cents more for every gallon - in an area that already ranks among the top five in the nation for high gas prices.

  

As a business owner who operates an all-natural gas fleet, we will avoid the fluctuations of summer gas prices, but our customers will feel the impacts... To be sure, gas prices rise and fall for many reasons, but one dangerous constant is that here in California, in particular, large oil companies are increasingly consolidated, reducing competition and generating concerns that consumers have ever-fewer defenses.

 

Continue reading here.
Featured News Story 

 

Report: Reducing Carbon Emissions and Increasing US Manufacturing Can Go Hand In Hand  

   

by Jeff Spross
July 10, 2013
  

 

A new report by the Center for American Progress suggests that a conflict between industrial growth and lowering carbon emissions is not inevitable -- we can, in fact, combat global warming and boost manufacturing at the same time.

 

First off, the paper notes several hopeful signs: U.S. labor productivity is going up, rising wages in other countries such as China are making foreign labor more expensive and thus less attractive to firms, and trends in business and supply chains are beginning to favor manufacturing sites that are in close physical proximity to research and development sites -- and the U.S. still has plenty of the latter.

 

Manufacturing also has a high multiplier effect, meaning every dollar spent on manufacturing encourages $1.35 in activity elsewhere in the economy. Similarly, every job created in manufacturing indirectly helps to create anywhere from 5 to 10 other jobs, depending on the sector.

 

Read the full article here.

Read the full press release here.

Read the full report here.

W

Featured Event  

  
Women in Green Conference

 

The 2013 Women In Green Forum (WIGF), the premier network and conference series for women in the environmental industry, will be held in Los Angeles on August 28. The WIGF brings together an international audience of environmental leaders ranging from corporate sustainability officers to academic researchers to technology developers. The WIGF also appeals to regulatory agencies involved in developing the policies and legislation which will further the development and propagation of green technologies on our roads, in our homes and at our schools.

 

Take advantage of a 10% registration discount by following these instructions:

 

Visit the Women in Green registration page by clicking HERE for WIGF West Coast. When prompted to " Enter Promotional Code" under the "Ticket Information" section of the registration page, please enter "EndorserCBAGE" for your registration discount. Given the conference has an international reach, it is expected to reach capacity prior to the day of the event.

 

For more information, go to www.womeningreenforum.com or email info@womeningreenforum.com 

 

Follow the Women in Green Forum on:

Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube

 
Learn more here.

Featured Member Profile 



LittleFootprint® Lighting is a small, woman-owned business based in Santa Cruz, California, and is dedicated to providing the most environmentally friendly task lighting available. 

 

led light The company's first product, the award-winning HeronLED, is the only American-made LED desk lamp to have earned the ENERGY STAR rating, using only 4 watts to provide the equivalent light output of a 40-watt incandescent. Their use of recycled e-waste and recycled steel to manufacture the product not only means a lower carbon footprint to produce parts, but keeps waste out of landfills. Making it in the USA supports domestic green jobs and means less transportation-related carbon emissions.  Finally, it's an attractive as well as functional light, easily adjustable so that its warm white light can be pointed to just where the user needs it.

 

LittleFootprint® Lighting was pleased to receive an Honorable Mention in the prestigious 2012 Lighting for Tomorrow competition that recognizes lighting products for their energy efficiency and aesthetic design.

 

Watch a video of the HeronLED here.

Visit the company's website here.  

LittleFootprint® Lighting is on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn 

Best,
SF signature
Susan Frank
Director, California Business Alliance for a Green Economy

CALENDAR AT A GLANCE

 

 

August 28

Women in Green Forum 

(Los Angeles)
*Read Story and Get Discount Code 

 

September 16-17

Renewable Energy Finance Forum 

(San Francisco)

 

September 20-21

2013 AltCar Expo & Conference 

(Santa Monica)

 

September 30-October 3

Plug-in 2013  

(San Diego)
 

Oct. 3-4

California Women's Conference 

(Long Beach)

 

Oct. 29-30

World Bio Markets USA: The Race for Scale 

(San Francisco)

 

 

Nov. 5-8

(San Francisco)

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