California, Oregon, and Massachusetts are the leading states for clean energy, according to a new assessment by the research firm Clean Edge.
With the arrival of the newly elected 112th Congress, likelihood of any significant progress on a focused federal clean-energy strategy in the United States is doubtful–and that’s not good news for the U.S. in its leadership battle with China, Japan, Germany, and other nations in this increasingly critical global industry. But against this uncertain federal landscape, U.S. states continue to lead the charge in driving clean-energy innovation and advancing the clean-energy economy.
Clean Edge’s first annual U.S. Clean Energy Leadership Index evaluates more than 80 different state-level indicators, such metrics as total electricity produced by clean-energy sources,
hybrid vehicles on the road, and clean-energy venture and patent
activity.
Washington, Colorado, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Minnesota, and New Jersey round out the top 10 states.
“In this newly launched service we track more than 4,000 public and private data points across all 50 states,” says Clean Edge cofounder and managing director Ron Pernick. “The industry needs to move beyond the days of using disaggregated and fragmented data to bolster subjective political claims about a state’s or region’s clean-tech prowess or as the basis of fundamental and significant business decisions.”
The Leadership Index paints an important and sometimes surprising picture of the U.S. clean-energy landscape with highlights such as:
- California is #1 in overall clean-energy leadership by a wide margin, leveraging its history of technology innovation, rich bounty of natural renewable energy resources and investment capital, and consistently supportive government policies.
- California leads in the technology and capital categories, but the #1 state for policy is Washington–just ahead of Massachusetts, which ranks first in regulations and mandates, and Illinois, the top state for incentives.
- Iowa is the nation’s leader in utility-scale clean electricity generation as a percentage of total electricity, receiving more than 14% of its in-state generation in 2009 from wind power. No other state exceeded 10% electricity from large-scale clean-energy sources.
- California-based companies accounted for nearly 60% of all U.S. venture capital investments in clean energy in 2009, but Massachusetts led in VC investments per capita.
- Michigan, with its recent focus on electric vehicle and automotive battery technologies, is the #1 state for clean-energy patents–a key indicator in the human & intellectual capital area of the Index’s capital category.
“In order to guarantee that smaller states aren’t put at a disadvantage, all quantitative indicators are adjusted for state size using metrics such as state population, state GDP, and electricity generation capacity,” says Clean Edge senior analyst Trevor Winnie. “By reporting in terms of per capita or percent of state GDP, smaller and less populous states are not penalized for having relatively smaller economies.”
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