California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Oregon, and New York Top the Nation in Clean Energy Leadership |
Clean Edge’s U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index Finds Major Increase in Deployment; San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Portland, OR, and Washington, DC Lead Among MetrosA free downloadable summary report is available here. |
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Clean Edge, Inc. today released its seventh annual U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, which tracks and ranks the clean-energy and clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S. – from EV (electric vehicle) and renewables adoption to policy and investment activity. The 2016 edition comes at a time of notable acceleration in the nation’s transition to a clean-energy economy, where an increasing number of cities, states, and companies are raising their renewable energy targets, green buildings are becoming the standard, and energy storage and EVs are moving into the mainstream. “When we issued our first state Index in 2010, just one state (Iowa) exceeded 10% in-state electricity generation from non-hydro renewables (utility-scale wind, solar, & geothermal),” says Clean Edge managing director Ron Pernick. “The transition to a clean-energy economy over the past seven years is remarkable, with 14 states now exceeding 10% renewable electricity generation, and the top three states (Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas) at 31%, 25%, and 24% respectively. And it’s not just wind generation – in this year’s Index, California became the first state to generate 10% of its in-state electricity from utility-scale and distributed solar, with Hawaii not far behind at 7%.” This shift represents both the maturation of the clean-energy sector and a deployment landscape that transcends politics. Among the Top 10 states for utility-scale clean-electricity generation in our 2016 Index, half were red states during the last presidential election (Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota) and half were blue states (California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, and Vermont). |
| Overall State Index Results |
| California leads all states in clean-tech leadership by a wide margin for the seventh consecutive year, followed by #2 Massachusetts. Vermont is the big story of the top 10, with a three-place jump to #3, and up from just 19th in our first Index in 2010. Oregon is down one spot to fourth, while New York holds onto to the #5 ranking for the third straight year. The rest of the top 10 is closely bunched; just 5.4 points separate the sixth- and 10th-place states. Colorado drops two places to sixth, while #7 Illinois and #8 Connecticut swap places from last year. Washington State (after three straight years of declining rankings) and Hawaii hold steady at ninth and 10th, respectively. |
Overall Metro Index Results |
| The top 10 metro areas return intact this year from the 2015 Index, with slight changes in order. The San Francisco Bay Area’s dominance continues into its fifth year: San Francisco and San Jose have finished in the top two each year the Index has been run, with San Francisco leading the pack for the last four years.However, San Francisco’s lead over San Jose has narrowed considerably, going from nearly 15 points in the 2014 Index to just 2.5 points in 2016. San Diego snags the third spot from fourth-place Portland, with Washington, DC (#5), and Los Angeles (#6) following, but the difference between #4 Portland and #6 Los Angeles is only .15 points. Boston (#7) and Seattle (#8) change places, though they are virtually tied with only .03 points between them. Austin and Chicago round out the top 10, as they did last year. |
About the U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index |
| Sponsors of the 2016 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index include lead partner Wells Fargo and supporting partners Cleantech San Diego, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, New York Economic Development Corporation, Portland Development Commission, Sierra Club, and the World Resources Institute. In addition to publicly available datasets and Clean Edge-derived indicators, Clean Edge leverages data from private data partners including Cleantech Group, EQ Research, Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C., and IHS Automotive.The U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index includes more than 100 indicators comprised of approximately 17,000 data cells. The complete state and metro datasets are only available to Index subscribers. For information on partnership packages contact Bryce Yonker, Clean Edge Director of Business Development, at 503-206-8448 or .View the 2016 Clean Tech Leadership Index Summary Report at: CTLI2016_Summary report. |
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