Nonprofit looks to remove sticking points that stall economic shift

Susan and Don Clark think Nevada could be transformed quickly and dramatically into an economy that's based on clean and renewable energy and sustainable development.

"We could have it very fast a matter of years," says Don Clark, owner of the Reno architecture firm, Cathexes. "In five years, we could have a fundamentally new economy in Nevada."

But the transition, the Clarks worry, could get hung up on any number of sticking points, such as turf battles among workforce training organizations.

The Clarks have put about $1 million of their own money into a nonprofit, the Renewable Energy Accelerator at 250 Bell St., that attempts to identify the potential sticking points and work through them.

The organization more commonly known as REA250 last month brought about 125 people together for a half-day summit that looked at everything from financial issues to the role that art and architecture play in creating good communities.

At the same time, participants in the group have met quietly to unsnarl some of the knotty problems that could stall a new economy.

Training of workers for renewable-energy jobs, for instance, is a task shared by craft unions, non-union construction groups, community colleges and others.

"Our workforce training system is a little gummed up," Don Clark says.

Susan Clark, who also works as the chief executive officer of Dynamic Competence LLC, a Reno management training company, worked with players in the workforce system to find ways to speed the training of workers for the wind-energy business.

At the same time, REA250 has been working to create an alternate-fuel testing corridor along Interstate 80 between Reno and northern California. The corridor potentially could drive creation of engineering and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles in northern Nevada, the group says.

As the group seeks to cut through the knots that stall the shift to a new economy, Susan Clark says a key element will be an open, positive-minded approach to replace winner-take-all agendas.

"People have been very quick to say that something is not possible," she says.

REA250's targets: More than 60 percent of the energy used by Nevada homes and business will from renewable sources by 2025, and the carbon footprint of vehicles in the state will be reduced by 40 percent.

To get there, REA250 is pursuing grants to finance its work over the short-term.

But the long-term answer, Don Clark says, will arise only when a self-sustaining clean energy industry develops in the private sector.