There's a clean energy-transportation conference at the Peppermill in Reno next week. Organizers say it's a growing sector with immense job creation and economic development opportunities for Nevada.

"Green transportation is not unique to electric and battery electrics," said conference organizer Tom Polikalas. "There's fuel cell electric, and in Nevada we have a company that's doing biofuels on a large scale for airlines. So now we've got a very green transportation fuel for the airline industry produced in Nevada so we can highlight the economics statewide."

Going green has been a long term goal for RTC Washoe.

"We were the first in Nevada to put electric buses into revenue services," said Paul Nelson, Government Affairs Officer with RTC Washoe. "Part of that was our 4th Street Station and Centennial Plaza, we put electric charges for our buses at both those stations."

It's not new technology.

"When you think who was the first president to drive an electric car, you might think it was Obama, Clinton, maybe George W. Bush," Polikalas said. "It was Teddy Roosevelt back in 1902, the turn of the century. At that time, more than 100 years, ago 50% of the cars sold in the us were electric."

And it's technology that continues to evolve.

"When we first got these buses, they were kind of the first generation of these electric buses," Nelson said. "Technology has really come a long way in the last 12-13 years and we're seeing that technology even get better."

And there are all kinds of incentives to keep going green.

"This is the time, if you're into clean transportation, clean energy tech, there is a wave of money coming down the pipeline because of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law," Polikalas said. "We have electric school buses that are going to be deployed in Carson City School District, Washoe County School District and Clark County School District, and that is because of the incentives the federal government has made available through this legislation."

That conference is February 2 and 3 at the Peppermill.

Get more information: https://allevents.in/reno/nevada-clean-energy-transportation-conference/10000498064072047