from renewable sources within the next 10 years. in the past decade, we've already begun this effort and we systematically have been building out our renewable energy sources. since 2004, our city has installed 13 municipal solar rays, totaling about 7.4 megawatts of solar energy generating capacity. this includes 5 megawatts solar system in our sunset reservoir, which is our largest and one of the largest urban municipal solar arrays in the state of california when it was first installed. in fact, i think some of you may be visiting the sunset reservoir on your visit this time. additionally, our solar sector incentive program, go solar s.f., has been working very hard in our city. in fact, in 2007 when it first started, there were only 795

non-municipal solar installations in our city that totaled about 3 megawatts. today that number is nearly quadrupled. we have over 3 40 that total 12 megawatts of power. and this is saving san franciscans more than 4-1/2 million dollars a year on their electrical bills and reducing 6,000 metric tons of co2 in the atmosphere annually. thank you. (applause) >> every bit counts. and many of these installations are becoming the standard rather than the exception and we're focused on installing them in all of our low-income homes and affordable housing developments as we build in this city. and as jerry brown said earlier, we are increasing our population, but we're going to build the right way. our city has also streamlined the permitting process and reduced the permitting cost for

san francisco residents. you our residential solar permits are available on the counter, over the counter, and online, and we have one of the lowest fees in the state of california and we're going to keep it that way. we're going to keep working with all of the bay area jurisdictions to continue streamlining and standardizing the processes not just for our our city, but across the region consistent with the u.s. department of energy's sun shot initiative ~. and we are working to even better our san francisco energy map so that everybody else can use it and we can spread this to now more than 30 cities across the world that are using similar energy maps to map out their solar installations. we've paired this bold strategy and leadership with smart economic development strategies that drive the growth of our clean tech industries in san francisco. in fact, march of last year, the clean tech group named san

francisco the clean tech capital of north america because we had made our aggressive push in the renewable energy, particularly in solar. (applause) >> thank you. and we want other cities to win that title as well. we're not satisfied being the only city in north america that earns that title. we want other cities to earn that as well because that will up the competition, and we like competition in this area. we also passed a business tax exclusion for clean tech firms in our city. we've taken advantage of our position as being in the center for business and innovation to become a hub for international clean tech firm. our historic strength and our city has been in finance, and, so, solar firm are moving here to san francisco to be close to their financial partners and to major utilities and government agencies such as pacific gas

and electric, our san francisco public utilities commission, our california public utilities commission as well as the environmental protection agencies. we are now home to more than 35 solar companies and five of the top 10 solar module manufacturers in the world have their offices here in san francisco. we're home to energy major developers and installers, including sun run, sun edison, teetion energy, basse electric, [speaker not understood]. so, to the solar companies already here in our great city, thank you for investing in our great city. ~ teague as those who are not yet located in san francisco, we welcome you. ~ with open arms. (applause) >> please consider joining your great colleagues in being part of the world's most innovative and dynamic solar clusters in the world. we continue to be a great city.

we're very proud of our partnerships and our solar companies and our service providers, out of their work. we're not stopping here with these milestones. we're going to heed the call of our governor. we're going to get to goals yet to be imagined, and i thank you for being here in our world class city to kickoff this inter-solar 2013. thank you for being here in san francisco. (applause) ...

(applause) >> well, thank you and welcome to california. it's a great place to come and talk about solar energy because we are in the forefront of certainly the rest of the states, probably -- in fact, certainly in the western hemisphere, california is in the lead. and that's important. but being in the lead doesn't mean we've arrived at the goal. got a long way to go and i hope

the work you do here, the conversations, the relationships that are formed can help advance the cause of solar energy and renewable energy or generally. back when i was governor the first time, that was a long time ago -- some of you folks weren't even born then -- not too many. i see a few gray hairs here who are hanging around. that was a long time ago, 38 years ago, as a matter of fact. very few people get to be governor 38 years after they first started. [laughter] >> with a 28-year hiatus. (applause) so, i guess i have to expiate my many political sins and i spent time in the wilderness. but i am back and i can reflect on how politics work, how it worked then, what's happened in the meantime, challenges we now face.

i promoted solar energy back in 1975 when i signed a law that granted a 55% tax credit to the installation of solar. that time was mostly solar hot water. but 55% was a credit, not a deduction. so, you took it right off your state income tax. probably the biggest incentive that has ever been provided. but over the years times change, but still california at that time was leading the way in solar and building efficiency, and then very shortly after 1982 promulgated appliance efficiency standards. so, we did get the sense of renewable energy, efficiency, elegance in the way we handle resources. today, of course, we know a lot more.

we know about climate change. we know about population, several billion more. we know if the demographers are right, the world will add 2 billion people. we now have 2 billion cars. the last time there were a couple hundred million cars. in fact, cars are reproducing faster than people. [laughter] >> and as long as they're using oil we've got a problem. that's why in california we have a goal to have a million electric vehicles by 2025. (applause) >> so, that's -- just within the last two months, we actually recorded over 2000 megawatts of solar energy being put into the grid, which is more than [speaker not

understood] provided. (applause) >> of course, the solar works for six hours or so and nuclear works for, you know, four times as long. however, it leaves a little bit of a tail afterwards that has to be dealt with. so, but it's an important milestone. and california does have the goal of 33% renewable energy. we have the goal of a million solar rooftops. we already have over 130,000 installations on homes and small businesses. so, we're looking at utility, scale, installation of solar, we're looking at individual homes, and businesses. so, wherever we can, we are encouraging it. we're number oned in the country. we're going to keep on going. it's very critical. now, i know from the idea to the execution to the secure

realization, it takes a long time. and we have to have patience. we have to have staying power. so, that's the dilemma. we look at most of the countries. germany certainly an exception, but most are not stepping up to the plate. there is a complete disproportion between the knowledge and the magnitude of the knowledge about and the magnitude of climate change and what it's going to do to the way -- to our way of life and our response. the response is feeble compared to the challenge, and we've got to wake up to that fact. (applause) >> the challenge -- one of the challenges is climate change is not news because it's too slow. news is fast. it's what happened yesterday. climate change has been

happening gradually over time. there's a lot of other stuff that's going on that gets people all excited and i'm not saying you shouldn't get excited about a lot of trivial things. why not? it can distract you from other trivial things. [laughter] >> it may be more irritating. but still, we have to think of what's important and what our responsibility as human beings are. it's not just fun and toys and entertainment and shopping. there's some serious stuff that men and women in this world have to deal with, and those things [speaker not understood], producing food, creating safe environment, schools, medicine, but energy is certainly one of the pillars of modern civilization. and there's a lot of oil in the ground.

if we wait for peak oil to save us, we're done because we've got plenty oil. i remember somebody told me once, a stanford professor, our problem is not too little too late when it comes to oil, but it's too much too soon. in other words, there's plenty there. so, that's the problem. you've got something easy, coal, 40% now, but it's grown a lot. coal is pretty simple stuff. if you can't burn it in america, put it on a train, ship it over to china or india. so, we got market forces. and against that we have to marshal intelligence and collaboration and political response, because this stuff is serious. and the fact that people aren't worried about it and don't talk about it doesn't mean it isn't serious. and that's the insidious character of this -- of this challenge, that some people

know about it, 90, 97% of the scientists who deal in climate science all agree that when it comes to doing something it takes leadership. and not just political leadership, but business leadership, church leadership, academic leadership. and that's the context, i believe, in which you have come together. you're focusing on solar energy. that's a big piece. there's plenty of sun out there to take care of our energy. it's going to take time. it's going to take technology. it's going to take scientific breakthroughs, research, and development. and it's going to take storage. and it's going to take various insebastianvv stifle. just in california you have some cities that charge 1800 bucks for a permit for somebody to put solar on their roof. we have to fight that. there are soft costs. we can bring that down. from the small incremental step to the long march in getting it

done, those are all the elements that you have to deal with. and there are some pauses, sometimes things plateau. i know some utilities feel we have enough for 33 and a third percent which is our state goal. we have to find other states. we've got to get other people putting out that 33% renewable standard. we've got to get -- and we do, we have a law in california encouraging storage because we can't just rely on the sunlight. (applause) >> we've got to bottle the sunlight. you've probably heard about that. we're bottling sunlight. well, that' a metaphor for storage. but we can get it done. you know, in a time of war when the invading army comes, people rise to the occasion. but when the invasion is more subtle and more gradual, then what?

then it takes clarity, it takes courage, and it takes will, a lot of political will, a lot of personal will. and that's what i would urge upon all of you. you've got your businesses or your academic work. all of it has to flow into this transformation because climate change is happening. it's affecting the food supply. we have the number of people going up, the number of oil-fed cars going up, but we have food production now lagging behind. and, so, we're going to have to slow climate change while we take care of all these other economic challenges. and it's very easy to say, well, we can't turn off coal. we can't go to solar. it's too expensive. well, you wait 10 years, you wait 15 years, it's going to be a lot more expensive, a lot more. so, how do we take the future and bring it forward so that we can act on the basis of what we

certainly expect? and when i say "we," it's not we all of the people. it's we, a relatively small subset, people in this room, people throughout the country, but in rather limited numbers. and, so, you not only have to do what you're doing, but you've got to find a way to market the very idea of solar energy. the very idea that we have all the energy we need, we have to develop the technology to utilize it without at the same time filling up our atmosphere with methane and co2 and nitrogen oxide and all the other emissions and pollutants that are going to reshape what life on earth is. when you hit 400 parts per million, as we did as reported

by the monitoring stations over in hawaii, it hasn't been like that for 3 or 4 million years. when it was like that 3 or 4 million years, the sea was a lot higher. the ice at the poles was a lot less. so, we've got a lot of evidence. we've got to find now the step-by-step sequential movement toward the goal. and the goal is an energy system totally compatible with the rules of nature. (applause) >> we've got to get on the side of nature. (applause) >> now, a lot of people like to have fight nature, but we are nature. when we fight nature, we're fighting ourselves. we're fighting our own life support system. that's really the challenge here. so, it's business. it's our livelihood, but it's also a calling to wake people up, to make the kind of progressive steps that are

crucial to make sure that we keep going. so, we have 130,000 solar installations. we're going to get several hundred thousand more. and as governor of california, i guarantee we're going to get there because i'm going to move us out of all the obstacles. whoever, whatever they are, get out of the way. the sun is shining brightly in the state of california. [cheering and applauding] >> all right. the only thing i want to say is when you introduced me, i could hear your german accent. [laughter] >> i just want to say, i'm going to germany next week because i still have a few distant relatives from my great grandfather, auguste schechman

who came to california in 1882, a lot of us running around, some known as brown. i'm going to reconnect with my inner person. we're going to need the indomitable will to overcome the blindness that stands in the way from our obvious destiny and future which is in renewable, sustainible, solar america and solar world. thank you very much. [cheering and applauding] [cheering and applauding] >> i just want to say i am humbled to have been able to introduce governor brown and very, very happy.

you have here a room and concern, 20,000 people visiting who are all on the same line. thank you so much again. >> thank you. (applause) >> please don't leave the room. the governor, of course, has a tight schedule and has to leave us. but i am very, very encouraged. i think we couldn't have opened solar in any better way. this is really simulating from somebody who has really shown in all his life and all his professional achievements that this is the right direction. so, i'm very happy to introduce as our next speaker our distinguished mayor from this wonderful city of san francisco

in which the california sun shines. i don't have to introduce mayor lee to you. but i have to mention i found in your cv that you are a graduate from u.c. berkeley from 1978. welcome. we have a line up of berkeley graduates. (applause) >> well, thank you for that introduction, dr. weber. and if there's any doubt in your mind as to how governor brown figured out the budget, you just heard it. that's the power of his leadership. good evening, everyone, and thank you for your attending the 2013 inter-solar conference here in san francisco. and first i want to give my personal thanks to the governor. just a couple weeks ago, by the way, all of the mayors from the top 10 city in the state of california met with him just a

few weeks ago and we had on our mind a discussion with him about the economy, our budgets, our economic challenges. well, before we could sit down at his picnic table meeting room -- if you've ever met with the governor, you should realize he doesn't have an ordinary meeting table in his office. he has a picnic table. and if you know picnic tables, they're very hard to sit on, and he explained as he sat us down, i have a picnic table here because the hard seats make you not want to sit here too long. [laughter] >> so, be quick with what you have. and before we were even able to express all of our concerns, he was at it. just deja vu a minute ago. he said, i want to talk to you mayors about climate change. and immediately he thrust into handing out a report to each and every one of us and asked us, you read this. and i know all of you are committed, but i don't want

b.s., i want you to make sure you start paying attention to the science of climate change. and, so, he handed out a report. it was titled the scientific consensus for maintaining humanity's life support systems in the 21st century. and it was authored by worldwide scientists across the world, evidencing their confirmation that we're in big trouble and we need to do more for our environment. and this is -- he led the conversation off with that. so, we not only could not avoid it, we had to be very happy about listening to him about this in order for us to get our agenda done. but that's how committed our governor is. and you saw it right here, the passion. this is leadership. this is what we are all doing and i am very happy to join him in making sure that that 33% gets done. well, in fact, we're not satisfied here in san francisco with 33%.

we want 100% renewable energy in san francisco. (applause) >> and we will get that done, i assure you. climate change continues to be one of the most important issues and that is why this inter-solar conference has its sixth meeting here in san francisco. you know our passion for this. you know this is part of the dna of how we run our local government. i'm honored to be welcoming all of you back here to our great city, and i want to again thank dr. weber and his wonderful staff and speakers from the state and from other scientific fields will be here to address you in a moment. but there is no better place for the solar industry than to really come together and meet right here in our great city. we are home to more than 19 megawatts of solar installation, and over 21 1 clean tech companies that are driving innovation for the rest of the world right here in san

francisco ~. we are bold, and we're not afraid to be bold. that's why we are moving to 100% renewable energy in our city. we want to reduce our carbon. we want to green our buildings. and we want to become a mecca for clean transportation. this year we are proud to be the number one spot on the clean edge u.s. metro clean tech index for all cities in the continental united states. our city has launched effective and powerful solar programs, and we've set an ambitious clean energy goal of having 100% city-wide electricity come from renewable sources within the next 10 years. in the past decade, we've already begun this effort and we systematically have been building out our renewable energy sources. since 2004, our city has installed 13 municipal solar

rays, totaling about 7.4 megawatts of solar energy generating capacity. this includes 5 megawatts solar system in our sunset reservoir, which is our largest and one of the largest urban municipal solar arrays in the state of california when it was first installed. in fact, i think some of you may be visiting the sunset reservoir on your visit this time. additionally, our solar sector incentive program, go solar s.f., has been working very hard in our city. in fact, in 2007 when it first started, there were only 795 non-municipal solar installations in our city that totaled about 3 megawatts. today that number is nearly quadrupled. we have over 3 40 that total 12 megawatts of power. and this is saving san

franciscans more than 4-1/2 million dollars a year on their electrical bills and reducing 6,000 metric tons of co2 in the atmosphere annually. thank you. (applause) >> every bit counts. and many of these installations are becoming the standard rather than the exception and we're focused on installing them in all of our low-income homes and affordable housing developments as we build in this city. and as jerry brown said earlier, we are increasing our population, but we're going to build the right way. our city has also streamlined the permitting process and reduced the permitting cost for san francisco residents. you our residential solar permits are available on the counter, over the counter, and online, and we have one of the lowest fees in the state of california and we're going to keep it that way. we're going to keep working with all of the bay area jurisdictions to continue streamlining and standardizing the processes not just for our

our city, but across the region consistent with the u.s. department of energy's sun shot initiative ~. and we are working to even better our san francisco energy map so that everybody else can use it and we can spread this to now more than 30 cities across the world that are using similar energy maps to map out their solar installations. we've paired this bold strategy and leadership with smart economic development strategies that drive the growth of our clean tech industries in san francisco. in fact, march of last year, the clean tech group named san francisco the clean tech capital of north america because we had made our aggressive push in the renewable energy, particularly in solar. (applause) >> thank you. and we want other cities to win that title as well. we're not satisfied being the only city in north america that earns that title.

we want other cities to earn that as well because that will up the competition, and we like competition in this area. we also passed a business tax exclusion for clean tech firms in our city. we've taken advantage of our position as being in the center for business and innovation to become a hub for international clean tech firm. our historic strength and our city has been in finance, and, so, solar firm are moving here to san francisco to be close to their financial partners and to major utilities and government agencies such as pacific gas and electric, our san francisco public utilities commission, our california public utilities commission as well as the environmental protection agencies. we are now home to more than 35 solar companies and five of the top 10 solar module manufacturers in the world have their