Varying Degrees of Green Economies
The Center for Best Practices lured me to the National Governors Association Web site, where I found "State Green Economy Profiles" in the United States.
Skimming the profiles of random states – Texas, California and North Dakota – I found out that Texas has very strong green business activity in Transportation (3.4 times more concentrated than the U.S. average) while California leads in Energy Generation (more than 4 times U.S. average) and Finance & Investment (almost 4.5 times U.S. average). North Dakota, according to the report, is all about Energy Efficiency (2 times the average).
The profiles are supposed to be used by governors to analyze their efforts and examine where they should develop a green economy based on their strengths. Sue Gander, director of the
Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Division for NGA, explained that there is no universal definition for a green economy, so the report was based on an existing standard.
I wondered if they could be used by companies involved in "green" businesses to determine what states would be most helpful to their bottom line. If Collaborative Economics, Inc.—the firm that put the profiles together—hasn't already done so, a little more research would make this report serve dual purposes.
In general, I thought the profiles were a bit lean. They might have just as well been condensed into bullet points. For example, Texas:
- 20,000 jobs in Air & Environment;
- 13,500 jobs in Recycling & Waste; and
- 7,000 jobs in Water & Wastewater (isn't this really because Texas is a BIG state?);
- Clean tech venture capital investment in 2008: $70 million; down from more than $600 million during 2006-2007; and
- 106 green patents between 2006 and 2008.
Do you find this kind of information useful for your business interests?
Posted by L.K. Williams, EPonline on Oct 08, 2009