Cleantech Key to Northwest's Economic Future: Study

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Cleantech stands to make the Pacific Northwest a leader in a low-carbon economy and deliver thousands of local green collar jobs by 2025, according to a new study.

Research firm Clean Edge [Disclosure: GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower is a Clean Edge co-founder] and nonprofit Climate Solutions pinpointed five cleantech sectors that present the most promising opportunities to drive the region's future economic engine in "Carbon-Free Prosperity 2025." Cleantech could generate as many as 63,000 new jobs in Washington and Oregon, while at the same time, renewable energy could comprise 75 percent of the region's energy portfolio.

"Clean energy is increasingly identified as the sector with the largest growth potential in the U.S. economy, and offers the best promise of meeting the twin challenges of economic and environmental decline," Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director and report co-author, said in a statement. "This report is a case study for how the Pacific Northwest region can seize a leadership role in the clean-tech economy."

The authors interviewed more than 50 business, financial and policy experts to help identify barriers and assets in the region. While there is an inherent green culture, natural resource base and manufacturing capacity in the Pacific Northwest, obstacles include limited venture capital activity and an outdated electrical grid.

The report specifically examined solar PV manufacturing, wind power development, green building design services, sustainable bioenergy and smart-grid technologies. The two-state area already has one of the world's biggest wind farms in the works, as well as tons of LEED-certified buildings, a strong smart meter manufacturing infrastructure and the country's largest solar crystalline PV manufacturing plant.

The report offers a 10-point action plan to foster the formation of a future cleantech hub, such as boosting public investment in cleantech funds, enacting green building codes, putting a price on carbon and investing in green collar job training.

It also calls for increasing the renewable portfolio standard to reduce fossil fuel-based electricity to just a quarter of its energy mix. The region, however, is already well ahead of the national average in this area: Some 62 percent of the electricity used in Washington and Oregon comes from renewable energy sources.

The report can be downloaded at the Clean Edge and Climate Solutions websites.

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