The 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, released Tuesday by research firm Clean Edge, tracks the the clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50 largest metro areas in the nation.
by Matt Williams / July 17, 2014
For the fifth consecutive year California sits atop an index of clean-tech activity in the U.S., propelled by investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and other emerging technologies.
The 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, released Tuesday by research firm Clean Edge, tracks the the clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50 largest metro areas in the nation. California continues to dominate in nearly all facets, the report says:
The Golden State’s clean-tech prominence is broad and deep; it leads the Technology category handily and ranks a very close second in both Policy and Capital. With enviable solar, wind, and geothermal resources, a green-minded populace, and generally effective policy levers at every level of government, California places #1 in all three subcategories of clean technology deployment: electricity, transportation, and energy efficiency/green buildings. And the state nearly takes home our Index triple crown, finishing a very close #2 in the Policy and Capital categories. As in 2013, California is also home to five of the top seven cities in our Metro index: San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.
The report cites some interesting statistics on state-by-state activity. California ranks No. 7 among all states with 14.9 percent of its total utility-scale electricity generation coming from wind, solar or geothermal. California’s installed solar photovoltaic capacity last year accounted for 7 percent of peak capacity, good for No. 2 in the rankings. California also has the most hybrid electric vehicles per capita of any state, and more than 680,000 registered HEV cars in all.
California also ranks No. 2 in venture capital investment related to clean energy, according to the index, with $58.67 invested per capita and $2.25 billion invested overall in 2013.
Massachusetts and Oregon repeated their No. 2 and No. 3 rankings from the 2013 state index. Vermont and Connecticut moved into the top 10 this year and Hawaii and Minnesota dropped out.
Unsurprisingly, San Francisco leads the Clean Tech Leadership Index among major U.S. metros. The report lauded the Bay Area’s leadership:
The City by the Bay continues its broad-based clean-tech leadership across all four categories of the Metro Index, placing first or second in three categories and fifth in the other. Acknowledged worldwide as a leading hub of the clean-tech industry, San Francisco also benefits from a green-minded populace and highly supportive regional clean-energy and energy-efficiency policies. Raising its score from 89.2 last year to 94.4, the metro area’s leadership also includes the recent emergence of Oakland as a center of clean-tech industry and deployment.
Clean Edge noted that clean-tech activity is growing across the country: “Solar installations climbed more than 40 percent year-over-year in the U.S., while registrations of all-electric vehicles doubled between the 2013 and 2014 indexes, to approximately 200,000 nationwide. “
The index was calculated using dozens of indicators derived from publicly available data and private data sources.
Go to cleanedge.com to download the free report.
This story was originally published by TechWire.
http://www.govtech.com/state/California-Reigns-in-Clean-Tech-Ranking.html