Audio posted in the afternoon.
Tom Fudge: Today, the group Solar Power International begins its five-day conference at the San Diego Convention Center. The solar power industry is growing and it's actually doing quite well. In fact, a new federal tax credit, that rode to town on the back of the Congressional bailout bill, will make solar even more attractive in the U.S.
But keep in mind that renewable energy sources, like solar, still provide only 7 percent of our nation's energy supply. While 8 percent comes from nuclear power, and 85 percent comes from fossil fuels. The American hopes of reducing that fossil fuel dependence are growing, but we've got a long way to go. In San Diego, UCSD may be the strongest engine in the effort to get us there.
UC San Diego has been preeminent in research into global warming. It's fair to say that UCSD scientists established the link between carbon emissions and climate change. Now, UC San Diego is still researching the problem, and they are also trying to make an impact on it, in their own small way.
Guests
- Gary Matthews, vice chancellor of Resource Management & Planning for UC San Diego .
- Brian von Moos , business development manager at Borrego Solar Systems, Inc .
- Ed Yu , is the associate director of the UC San Diego Center for Energy Research and an electrical and computer engineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
- Erika Kociolek, a UC San Diego student who is majoring in international studies. She has worked on several sustainability projects on the UCSD c38us.
