Two industry experts in clean energy technology and green buildings said the Sacramento region has the intellectual capital to become an industry center, but the region itself needs to be its own best customer and buy the products dreamed up and built here. U.S. Green Building Council Chair and Founder David Gottfried and UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center Director Andy Hargadaon spoke to 300 business and community leaders at the Sustainable Sacramento Industry Breakfast Aug. 24, co-hosted by the Metro Chamber and the Sacramento Business Journal. So in demand for information on this emerging sector that there was a wait-list of 50 for seats. What They Said Of Note: —Development and use of clean energy and green technology is business and economic tidal wave. —The word “green can refer to many activities, but defines reduction of a business, buildings or individual’s carbon footprint; basically, it’s a way of operating efficiently and effectively—and results in cost savings over the long run. —Jurisdictions across the U.S. are supporting the “green buildings” sector by cutting property taxes (state of Nevada by one-half), providing massive tax credits—up to $200 million—on LEED certified buildings, or providing a “density” bonus. —Walmart is reducing cardboard packaging by 25 percent. —Wind generation in Europe is saturated because of favorable government incentives, so European wind turbine manufacturers are turning to selling in the U.S., and thus bad for American companies in the same market. —Sacramento is rated at 14th as a “sustainable” community, based upon a variety of metrics but it can do much more to improve its rating. —Sacramento is also rated in the top 10 of “best and brightest” communities because of the intellectual capital here. —The Sacramento region has a cluster of companies building solar power equipment and a nucleaus of buyers—such as Lennar Communties—purchasing. Both sides of the market are growing in the region, one of the few to be doing so. “We are the best market.” —Businesses now have a “triple” bottomline to consider when making decisions: economy, environment and social equity.” —What leaking faucets were to the 1970s’ drought, so is waste of electricity through plugged-in appliance chargers (cell phone, etc.) —A price needs to be put on carbon use, such as a tax, to encourage conservation. —Everyone is their own “offset,” i.e., individuals must practice carbon generation reduction. —Industry progress is made not in the labs but through usage—getting a clean or green energy technology product out in the marketplace. —More engineers are needed; the sector doesn’t have enough workers.