It's Only 1% But We'll Take It

Between 2007 and 2008, green manufacturing employment grew by 1% in California.

And that's good news since total manufacturing employment dropped 4% during that same period, according to the "2010 California Green Innovation Index" released on Oct. 7th.

Taking a broader perspective, from 1995-2008, manufacturing employment in core green economy expanded by 19%, while there was a 9% drop in total manufacturing employment.

The state's global leadership in green innovation continues to grow, as reported in the current edition of the California Green Innovation Index.


Global venture capital investment in clean technology is becoming more concentrated in California. Accounting for 24% of total global investment, the state has attracted $11.6 billion in cleantech VC since 2006.

In the first half of 2010, the state attracted 40% of global cleantech VC exceeding the first half of 2009 by 246%.

California is the top state in patent registrations in green technology outpacing second-ranked New York by more than 150 patents between 2007 and 2009. From 2007 to 2009, California represented 39% of solar energy patents registered in the U.S., up from 24% in the period 1995 to 1997. California accounts for 20% of all battery technology patents registered in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009, and 16% of total wind energy patent registrations.

California dominates the country in solar energy production, representing over 90% of the total U.S. net solar electricity generation in 2007.