With new laws aimed at making California cleaner and greener, developers and manufacturers are taking steps to keep upto-date on what is required.

Earlier this month a group of about 100 people attended "A Climate for Change," a conference at Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo, to learn how Ventura County businesses and cities can comply or adjust to new building regulations.

"I actually picked up quite a bit of information," said Chuck Cohen, a partner in Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava & MacCuish LLP of Westlake Village, which coordinated the event. Cohen was the mayor of Thousand Oaks in the 1970s. "There's a much greater sense of recognition that what is being required is good for the companies, communities and businesses."

Cohen thinks that now is a good time to learn the building laws since there's a lull in the construction market.

"While there's a pause, we can allow this to sink in," Cohen said. "We need to take advantage of these laws and not do the usual thing and resist anything new."

Keynote speakers Lynn Jacobs, director for the state's Department of Housing and Community Development, and Gregory Brose, Ventura County senior deputy district attorney for the environmental crimes division, explained the laws and the enforcement of those standards.

A panel featuring an architect, engineer, consultant and lawyer discussed the future of residential and commercial building and the significance of certain laws, including Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions act of 2006, and CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act that has been in effect for more than 35 years.

"We have to see this as a new way of doing business and take into account moral and financial (obligations)," said panelist Jason Oliver of Behr Browers Architects in Westlake Village.

AB 32 requires the state to reduce global warming pollution to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 25 percent. The Air Resources Board was created to keep a watchful eye on businesses and enforce the regulations beginning in 2012. Several panelists at the conference said businesses and cities urged the importance of compliance before 2012.

Jocelyn Thompson, a panelist and partner for Weston Benshoof, said reducing greenhouse emissions by 2020 is a "huge task."

Joe Power with Rincon Consultants in Ventura said that for most residential or commercial projects in Ventura County "80 percent of emissions are from transportation indirectly related to projects." Power also said accurately tracking greenhouse gases is complicated because it's hard to gauge what emissions are new and what are being moved from one location to another.

The panel also discussed the importance of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. According to Oliver, cities like Los Angeles and Calabasas require certain LEED ratings, which vary from certified to platinum, on their buildings. LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

With so many laws, regulations and standards to follow, developers must work to keep track of the latest trends.

"There are many conflicting regulations; hopefully they'll be integrated under one California green building code," said Stephen Widmayer of Willdan, a company that helps public agencies with civil engineering and planning.

While businesses and cities must take action, it's also up to the public to demand change, Oliver said.

"Unless a large portion of the public embraces these things, it can't get off the ground," Oliver said. "We need to look at mixeduse development with mass transit systems. They can really feed off each other."