Dr. Shawn Kantor, professor of economics at University of California – Merced and storied author, recently published a study on the San Joaquin Valley’s potential for 100,000 clean, renewable-energy jobs. Dr. Kantor investigated current projects that have been approved by the state and projects in the approval pipeline and calculated the number of jobs needed to build and operate these various facilities, businesses and initiatives. Solar, hydrogen, wind and biomass projects are all slated to be developed. “The Central Valley [of California] has about 16% unemployment right now,” Dr. Kantor reveals. “We’re doing much worse than the rest of the country. Given our unemployment problems, just one job created is good. A lot of these projects are in the pipeline right now. Any job is a boon for our region.”