Abstract

The Coachella Valley exhibits a range of levels of income, wealth, education, and age structure. Its economic strengths lie in tourism, retirement, specialized agriculture, retail, and associated services. The chapter first reviews literature of prior studies of regional renewable development. Since the Valley as a whole is not a U.S. Census designated area, population projection is done by aggregating components, indicating the Valley’s population of about a half million in 2016 is predominantly located in nine small cities with largest being Indio at 80,000 people. GIS analysis is applied to understand, at the census tract level, the spatial patterns of leading socioeconomic variables including income, wealth, education, occupation, manufacturing, professional and technical workers, internet use for business, environmental participation, and crime. Additionally, the Valley’s solar and wind energy workforces are estimated. Labor force deficits are apparent, which could be overcome by stemming out-migration or encouraging in-migration of skilled renewable workers. To reinforce this point, a case study is examined of community college renewable energy occupational training.

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