California Approves $100 Million Green Technology Investment
Last week, California’s Energy Commission voted unanimously in favor of a $100 million investment plan that promotes the use of green vehicle technologies.
The plan is part of a bigger push to heavily subsidize several facets of the hybrid and green car market within the state. The $100 million sum will go into action in 2013 and will help create jobs in related fields.
Among those jobs, programs will be put in place to retrofit medium- and heavy-duty off-road vehicles with the latest in fuel saving tech, building new infrastructure for alternative-fueling stations, increasing alternative fuel production and more.
This recently approved funding is on top of a previous $200 million investment by the California government, and an additional $375.5 million from outside sources.
While that might seem like a lot, the funding breaks down into smaller categories to focus on a long list of different green technology investments. With a tightening budget and proposed tax hikes to deal with the state’s $16 billion deficit, it seems likely that voters might disagree with how that money is being spent. The plan covers areas ranging from developing new bio fuels to replace diesel and gasoline to increasing the number of hydrogen fuel cell refueling stations.
While California has always been a leader in promoting green technology, the question becomes how tolerant people will be of their tax dollars being spent on environmental investments when there are already other, more pressing issues on the table.
[Source: Hybrid Cars]
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
More by Luke Vandezande
Comments
Join the conversation