Seattle is the fifth leading metro region in the US Metro Clean Tech Index compiled by Clean Edge. “The Seattle area trails only Portland in concentration of EV charging stations,” according to the Executive Summary of the report, “emits fewer greenhouse gases than almost anywhere in the country, and is a leading market for LEED-certified building deployment.
Clean Edge, founded in 2000, is a research and advisory firm devoted to the cleantech sector. The Metro Clean Tech Index is a tool for regional comparative research, source for aggregated industry data, and jumping-off point for deep, data-driven analysis of the U.S. clean-energy market. Modeled after Clean Edge’s State Clean Energy Index, the Metro Index leverages nearly two dozen metro-area indicators to establish performance scores and ranks for the fifty largest metro regions. Metrics include hybrid electric vehicles, certified green buildings, clean-tech venture capital investments, innovation, and workforce.
The cleantech market in the U.S. is dominated by cities on the west coast. Six of the top seven metro regions in clean tech are on the west coast. The top 10 are:
- San Jose, California
- San Francisco, California
- Portland, Oregon
- Sacramento, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Denver, Colorado
- Los Angeles, California
- Washington, DC
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Austin, Texas
“West Coast metro regions, which have been at the forefront of regional clean-tech efforts and have strong state support, dominate the inaugural US Metro Clean Tech Index,” said Clean Edge managing director Ron Pernick. “But other regions show significant strengths and assets, from Chicago and Washington DC to Austin and Salt Lake City, representing the diversity of clean-tech leadership and activities across the nation.”
Source: Clean Edge, 2012. Down load the Executive Summary here.