ir Business Exposition focused on informing and demonstrating the importance of saving energy and cleaning the air.
It showed valley businesses improving the environment and working on implementing their operations with air quality and energy efficiency.
The expo kicked off with a speaker, Karen Alderman Harbert, who is the president for the Institute for 21st Century Energy U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Harbert designed and implemented energy policy initiatives and oversaw budget reviews for fossil, nuclear, renewal energy and energy efficiency programs.
“We have put together an interactive Web site for people to begin to understand some of the energy policy complexities,” Hebert said. “We were in 25 states, and last year, I went to universities and colleges to talk about the challenges and opportunities in engineering and innovating.
“It’s not about a new Hollywood set, but it’s about a new really interesting energy idea that actually may change the complexity of our country.”
After the speaker’s presentation, ironically the power went out. However, everyone went on with the day until the power came back on.
There were 37 exhibitors at the expo focusing on their vital roles as businesses and business leaders to help improve valley air quality and increase energy efficiency.
“We’re fabricators and a lot of these companies use things that we design and build, so we are here trying to get new customers,”?Mike Miller of Lortz Manufacturing Company said.
Chris Loedel, with Lortz Manufacturing Company, said, “We are here networking to meet new people.”
Hope Cornejo, of American Business Machines, said, “I am here to inform people of the low-energy savings from the Canon products, the recyclable program that Canon offers for their toner cartridges to help the environment and keep the earth clean.”
Denny Moyer, with the State of California Bureau of Automotive Repair, said, “We are here to inform people of the automotive repair industry and smog regulations.”
Chris Arias, from Motor City West, said, “You don’t necessarily have to spend $50,000 for a Hybrid vehicle, you have something that is economical, useful, and still gets great gas mileage, and you are doing something good for the environment.”
There were a lot of people mingling and taking in the information that was being given to them, and several people said that the information about clean air and energy savings is the step in the right direction for the environment.
Furthermore, there were many exhibitor booths, mini seminars to learn about the new technology, test drives of the new low emission hybrid vehicles, and a car crushing demonstration to inform people about getting gross polluting vehicles off our streets and highways.
Debra Moreno, president of Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, said, “This event will show you ways that you can participate in the effort to clean our air and conserve our resources at your place of business and at home.”
The speaker for the luncheon was Shelly Sullivan, executive director of AB 32 Implementation Group, and she works on educating various audiences including colleges, coalition partners, and the media on the issues surrounding the implementation of AB 32, which is the Global Warming Solutions Act.
“College students really need to remain engaged on what is going on at the California Air Resources Board, to make sure that the regulations that are being implemented are ones that can reach the green house gas emissions reduction goals within AB 32, and also keep California’s economy strong and growing, and so everyone can get involved and needs to get involved,” Sullivan said.