California has always been at the forefront of environmental leadership, from its elected officials to its everyday residents. Since its creation in 1975, CAPCOA and its members-leaders of all 35 local and regional air districts in California-have focused on ensuring this trend continues unabated, with enthusiastic drive and dedication toward cleaning the air and ensuring the residents of California have a healthy environment in which to live and thrive.
Today, more than ever before, we have all come to recognize that this can only be achieved if we push the envelope to develop and use better, cleaner technologies that address air pollution, global warming, and petroleum dependency. Meeting the challenges ahead will depend on increased research into alternatives to oil and conventional fuels and challenge the way we have traditionally worked.
CAPCOA is proud to host The Future is Green Conference & Expo on New and Emerging Clean Air Technologies and Innovations on September 14-16, 2008, at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Long Beach, California. The Future is Green Conference & Expo is one more step toward achieving a cleaner, greener tomorrow and reducing our carbon footprint.
Monday's Opening Plenary Session features a short video by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and presentations by State Senator Alan Lowenthal; U.S. EPA Region IX Administrator Wayne Nastri; Mary D. Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board; Fran Pavley, co-author of the landmark Assembly Bill 32, California's Global Warming Solutions Act; and Lynda Ziegler, Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Southern California Edison. Our Monday luncheon keynote is presented by T. Boone Pickens, Chairman & CEO of BP Capital, who will discuss his new energy plan to achieve energy independence to clean the air and to reduce global warming.
Today's new and emerging technologies will be discussed by our ten expert panels featuring more than 60 esteemed speakers over two days and further highlighted in our exhibit, which includes more than 70 exhibitors and 30 vehicle displays.
Won't you please join as at The Future is Green and bring us that much closer to developing and commercializing clean air and low-carbon energy technologies? If we work together, we can achieve a cleaner, greener tomorrow and ensure for ourselves and future generations that The Future is Green!
Barbara Lee, CAPCOA President
The Future is Green - Conference Highlights
The Future is Green Conference & Expo attracted more than 2,700 individuals over the three-day event. This included more than 1,000 attendees on Monday and Tuesday during the expert panels and keynotes; 300-400 members of the general public who visited the technology exhibit on Sunday’s public expo day; nearly 100 teachers for the teachers’ workshop and nearly 100 entrepreneurs for the green technology business workshop, both of which were held on Sunday; and over 1,300 middle and high school students for the student field trip days over Monday and Tuesday.
Over the three-day period, attendees and visitors explored the technology exhibit, which featured nearly 100 exhibitors and 37 vehicle displays. On Monday, the panel sessions and keynote luncheon with T. Boone Pickens, Chairman and CEO of BP Capital, attracted more than 850 conference attendees. Tuesday’s panel sessions and keynote luncheon with James Boyd, Commissioner and Vice Chair of CEC, was attended by over 500 conference attendees.
This was the first CAPCOA-sponsored conference to include a combination of workshops for small business entrepreneurs and K-12 teachers and field trip programs for high school students. This educational component captured new audiences not reached at previous air quality conferences and, most significantly, expanded the knowledge base of our local educators and the next generation.
The Sunday workshops were targeted towards specialized audiences and were highly regarded by both small business entrepreneurs and K-12 teachers. The entrepreneur workshop focused on business basics such as writing a business plan and securing financing to start a green business. In particular, the session on three thriving green businesses provided by Craton Equity Partners, Power House Energy, and Enlink Geoenergy Services provided real-world examples of successful green businesses. The teachers’ workshop shared K-12 curricula and hands-on activities from the Roots and Shoots Program of the Jane Goodall Institute, and curricula from the Edison Challenge, an energy science education outreach program and competition sponsored by Southern California Edison.
Presentations from the conference panel sessions are now available here.
CAPCOA expresses its appreciation to the conference sponsors, exhibitors, co-hosts, and attendees for making this the most successful conference ever under CAPCOA auspices.