A Brief History
Clean Air Now (CAN) is a Southern California-based non-profit 501(C)3 organization whose mission is to take immediate, direct action to develop and implement renewable energy projects and guide the transition to a renewable hydrogen economy.
Founded in 1969 in Riverside County, the organization has been instrumental in bringing about local, statewide, and national clean air policies and other activities which have focused on improving air quality, including:
Our History
* Providing important testimony at hearings which led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency;
* Taking legal action in 1985 to force the EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act;
* Orchestrating the state’s adoption of vapor recovery systems on gasoline dispensing nozzles;
* Working to ensure that the Air Quality Management Districts in California are more representative of the public;
* Leading the call in the early 1990s for a transition out of the petroleum era, into a new clean, renewable hydrogen-based economy;
* Demonstrating the feasibility of hydrogen as a safe, clean fuel system for vehicles with the CAN/Xerox Solar-Hydrogen On-site Generating Station, Fueling Facility, and Internal Combustion Engine Hydrogen Vehicle Fleet completed in 1995.
One of the co-founders, driving forces, and visionaries of Clean Air Now was Dr. Robert Zweig, who died in February 2002. Please see the special section dedicated to Dr, Zweig for more of the history of Clean Air Now and Dr. Zweig’s key involvement.
For more information about the early days of Clean Air Now and the CAN/Xerox Solar Hydrogen Project, please see the “Archives” and “Projects” sections on this website, respectively.
