California and its hedge fund industry is clearly benefiting from the state’s reputation as a cleantech innovator and early adopter of energy efficient technology, according to a new data released by various industry groups.
A story from Reuters reveals that manufacturing employment in California’s green economy expanded by 19 percent from 1995 to 2008, despite a drop of 9 percent in total manufacturing employment during that period.
Collaborative Economics, a Silicon Valley-based firm which tracks California’s economic gains or losses from technology for the California Green Innovation Index, noted the following trends:
– Global venture capital investment in clean technology is becoming more concentrated in California. The state has attracted $11.6 billion in cleantech venture capital investment since 2006, roughly 24 percent of the global total.
– California is the top U.S. state in patent registrations in green technology, beating out second-ranked New York by more than 150 patents from 2007 to 2009.
– California dominates the U.S. in terms of solar energy production, representing over 90 percent of total U.S. net solar electricity generation in 2007.
– Green manufacturing in California is concentrating in the Bay Area (55 percent), Orange County (54 percent), and San Joaquin Valley (38 percent).
“By revenue, energy represents the largest industry in the world, ” according to F. Noel Perry, a businessman and founder of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Next 10, which released the California Green Innovation Index. “Energy technology is emerging as the next breakout technology revolution. And like information technology, ET is an emerging trillion-dollar market. California is on course to dominate this market.”
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