Everyone has a role to play in the transformation to a clean energy economy, from entrepreneurs to innovators, regulators, venture capitalists, policymakers and the financial sector, among others, according to Mary Nichols, who heads the California Air Resources Board.

A future greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system that puts a price on carbon dioxide, she said, will create financial incentives for industries and consumers to find creative ways to reduce emissions.

“So obviously companies that can figure out ways to cost-effectively create products that people want to buy, or things that people need, and do it with the lowest overall lifecycle impact on climate are the big winners in this new economy,” Nichols said Thursday during a keynote speech at the West Coast Summit of the Women's Network for a Sustainable Future in Santa Clara, Calif.

The event, held at Intel headquarters, drew women from around the Bay Area and beyond to discuss the cleantech opportunities such a transformation would create.

In a broad overview of her agency’s scoping plan that will carry out the goals of the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Nichols described how a new way of thinking -- “climate thinking” -- will alter the long-term decisions made by policymakers and companies.

The West Coast Summit of the Women's Network for a Sustainable Future

For example, state water planning and regulatory agencies inserted a water element into the scoping plan. It specifically calls for reductions in the energy used in water treatment plants; the state will then look for opportunities to improve efficiency moving water around the state.

“Instinctively, you would think that using more localized groundwater or recycled water is a better alternative than transporting water, at least if you have to pump it from one place to another,” Nichols said. “This is another one of those areas where you really have to look at the full lifecycle costs of things and what your options are.”

But before we move water, she said, we should first concentrate on saving water, avoid degrading it to the point where it can’t be used again, and find energy-efficient means of cleaning up the water we already have.

There is a lot of interest in ocean water desalination, but treating brackish water in a desalination process may yield a lower energy cost compared to taking water out of the ocean, especially if it can be done closer to where the water is needed.

“So, thinking in a carbon way, and applying that kind of thinking to our water system is going to make some differences in the way we approach our water supply problems,” Nichols said.

Water is going to be the area where climate change will be felt first, such as water scarcity, flooding and rising sea level rise, which will immediately impact water treatment facilities.

“The outfalls are the first thing that would become potentially unusable in that kind of scenario,” Nichols said. “I know a number of cities that now look very seriously at their own infrastructure vulnerability, and that’s one of the first places that they have to look.

“It’s almost a separate world in its own way -- the water world,” Nichols said, “but it’s being drawn rather rapidly into climate thinking.”