Originally posted by Triple Pundit and re-published with permission.

Last week, at the close of the Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara, California’s Governor Jerry Brown talked with CEO’s and industry leaders about his work to build a health, clean energy economy in California. Here are some highlights:

Wall Street Journal: In 1977, California introduced solar tax incentives. How has your view on energy policy evolved?

Governor Brown: California has always been a leader in environmental legislation and we’d like to continue that tradition.

In 1977, California has a budget surplus. We did not have to consider the costs of those incentives. The incentives were “free virtue.” We had a 55% credit that was mostly heating related, and a 25% credit for conservation improvements. We garnered billions in energy savings, set the pace for the nation, and a foundation for renewable energy.

Now it’s different because we are working with a huge deficit. But one thing that has lasted well has been a focus on building efficiency. We also have a law that one third of our electricity must come from renewable sources. We need to balance how we achieve that goal in a way that is environmentally and economically sound.

The point is to think big and to think long-term. We can’t get there overnight.

Read the full article here