The National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices has just released its Green economy report which includes state by state comparisons of who is performing best in 15 industry segments that represent the core green economy.How does New York State fare? Here is a snapshot of results:
- To varying degrees, every state is seeming some green growth, much of which is tied to existing state strengths.
- State policy is clearly driving growth -- from incentives and regulations, to renewable portfolio standards, and building efficiency standards.
- New York's economy also displays diversity, but compared to the national average it has much higher concentrations in transportation (including non-carbon fuels, vehicles and equipment) and business services (environmental legal services, green business portals, green marketing and public relations).
- Other sectors where New York scored well were energy storage, advanced materials, and green manufacturing and industrial clusters.
- Other promising areas noted in the report were university centers of excellence, and targeted investment in R & D and commercialization.
- New York did not score as highly in areas such as energy generation, energy efficiency, and other specialized sectors.
- The west and southwest scored highly in solar, not because of location or incentives, but because of existing strengths in the semiconductor industry.
- Venture capital investment in clean tech in NYS has fluctuated over the past decade. Investment in NYS clean tech peaked in 2007, with $118 million, and dropped to $54 million in 2008 -- along with general market downturn and the recession.
- There were 290 green technology patents issued in NYS between 2006 and 2008 -- representing a three-fold increase over the previous decade. There were 2,391 green technology patents issued nationally in the same two year period, meaning that NYS produced more than 10% of the national total.
The report also suggests good benchmarks to measure success:
- Clean tech venture investment by segment
- Patent registrations in green technology by technology area
- Adoption of green technologies (the percentage of energy generation from renewable sources, and well as alternative fuel vehicle registration)
- Energy efficiency and consumption patterns
Read the full report with state by state analysis at: http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.9123e83a1f6786440ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=ce5bea15a18e3210VgnVCM1000005e00100aRCRD
