According to the Milken Institute’s 2010 State Technology and Science Index, released today, these top-ranked states are setting the pace in the knowledge economy. The index, as it has since 2002, tracks and evaluates every state’s tech and science capabilities and its success at converting those assets into companies and high-paying jobs.
The top 10 (with previous index rankings in 2008):
1. Massachusetts (1)
2. Maryland (2)
3. Colorado (3)
4. California (4)
5. Utah (8)
6. Washington (5)
7. New Hampshire (9)
8. Virginia (6)
9. Connecticut (7)
10. Delaware (14)
For more information and to download the report from the Milken Institute click HERE.
Top 5 Green Theme Stories of 2010
Time for the 2010 recap on stories about sustainability news in government, business and beyond.
1. China goes big time green with new Five Year Plan
You may know that China has overtaken the US, EU nations and other countries in production of solar and wind renewable energy technologies; but may not have heard that China, which will use 15% renewables by 2020, is committed to greening far more than its energy (note: the US has no goal for renewable energy).
China’s Five Year Plan for 2011-2015 demonstrates that it is serious about tackling its rampant air and water pollution. This recently announced plan also shows that China will be designing scaleable new technologies and approaches for everything from greener urban development to more fuel efficient vehicles, including nationally subsidized electric cars.
Nowhere was this more evident than at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, a six-month affair that I attended at its close in October. Climate change, sustainability, environmental management and the role of citizens in reducing their impact were major themes in the China Pavilion and in other theme pavilions. The Shanghai Expo featured some of the most creative and engaging exhibits that I have seen on climate change, green technology, waste reduction, urban planning, and air and water pollution.
2. India’s GDP will factor in environmental damages by 2015
Now that more than 30 nations have agreed to some kind of price on carbon emissions, India declared in November that it will go a step further. India said within five years it will factor in environmental damages into its Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. In other words, if the country now has an annual GDP of 8 percent that could be adjusted a few percentages points lower once the damages to air, water and species are analyzed and calculated in the equation. Under such “full-cost accounting,” intensified green economic development would likely become a substantially larger component of the GDP.
3. US Congress fails to pass climate change legislation (again)
Climate change legislation in 2010 appeared to be dead in the water after passing in the U.S. House in 2009. The Obama Administration is likely to try to enforce greenhouse gas emission reductions using Executive Order, mainly through the Environmental Protection Agency. Lawmakers hunker waiting in revolt.
4. It’s happening: Climate change related flooding in Pakistan, fires engulfing Russia, etc.
Pakistan experienced some of the worst rain and flooding in its recorded history, with the Indus River flooding its banks and occupying more than 30 times its usual width, which covered one-fifth of the country. Russia in 2010 experienced record high temperatures and rampant drought and extreme temperature-related fires, impacting national food crops, health in major cities including Moscow, and commercial aviation. More than 15,000 were likely killed by the Russian 2010 heat wave, cutting more than $15 billion from its GDP. The year 2010, meanwhile, is likely to finish as the planet’s warmest year ever recorded since record keeping began in the late 1800s.
5. Gulf Oil Spill demonstrates future dangers of ever-riskier drilling
The BP Gulf Horizon disaster, the largest US oil “spill” in history (it was more of an uncontrolled gusher than a spill), caught BP, the federal government and the nation at large way off guard. I blogged about the disaster’s potential in April, when estimates of damage were laughingly underplayed by BP through the US government. Who can forget the weird summer with that underwater camera video spewing daily before our eyes? Deep water drilling is not for the timid, especially as such operations will more frequently encounter highly volatile methane gases.
Originally published December 28, 2010 at the Green Flow blog of Common Current.
VOTE: Adventurer of the Year – Roz Savage
Roz Savage has rowed solo across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 2011 she’ll tackle the Indian Ocean. She’s a finalist in National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year contest. Learn about Roz below – and be sure to cast your vote.
Before she rowed across two oceans, Roz Savage was a management consultant, working 14-hour days in London. “There has to be something more adventurous,” she thought. “I’m not getting any younger. Why not get on with it?” So she did. In 2005, Savage paddled the Atlantic in 103 days, battling several storms in one of the worst seas on record. This year, paddling to increase awareness of the ocean’s plight and show the extraordinary impact one person can have when they set their mind to something, the 42-year-old completed an 8,000-mile, three-part row across the Pacific. After 250 days and 2.5 million oarstrokes, she reached Madang, Papua New Guinea, on June 3, becoming the first woman ever to solo row across the largest ocean in the world. In 2011, Savage will set out to row 5,000 miles across the Indian Ocean.
Vote For Roz as the “Adventurer of the Year” (Vote every day for your favorite adventurer until January 15, 2011. The People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year will be announced in February 2011.) This takes less than a minute!
Will the U.S. be left behind?
On November 29 international leaders will convene in Cancun, Mexico for the UN Climate Change Conference. Increasingly, the world is growing impatient with U.S. and is moving ahead in embracing alternative energy solutions.
“The U.S. will increasingly see the risks of being left behind, and 10 years from now they would have to start worrying about being shut out of markets because their production is dirty,” UK Economist Nicholas Stern told The Times. “If they persist in being slow about reducing emissions, U.S. exports will start to look more carbon intensive.” READ INTERVIEW
For more information:
South Korea Moves Aims to Start Up Two Carbon Capture Storage Plants
Clean Energy Election Update
Below are some highlights from last week’s conference call on the 2010 political landscape as it relates to the ‘clean economy’. We agree with CEN’s Political Director Tim Greeff that this election is wildly unpredictable.
Current 111th Congress:
Since August there has been no political capital to move a comprehensive energy bill and that is expected to continue into the lame duck session.
During the lame duck session, it is expected that the budget will be addressed; but nothing else on the energy front. Following the BP spill, there was a push from the Democrats to raise/life the liability cap for oil companies, but that momentum has slowed. Similarly, the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) bill has possibility as a stand-alone bill but is running up against complications and expected to stall.
Future 112th Congress:
It is very tough to predict what will be coming up before we see the outcome of the election and the extent of the Democratic losses. If the Republicans take control of the House and/or Senate, it’s unclear who would be at the forefront of party leadership. From an energy perspective, the ‘best guess’ is that there will be some form of energy policy passed without addressing carbon issues. EPA deregulation may be a factor in putting pressure on making energy legislative headway.
From either side of the aisle it’s a wait-and-see’ month.
Prop 23: The National Economic Showdown
For past months we have been educating Californians about the intent behind California’s Prop 23, the proposition that aims to reverse AB32. AB32 ‘ups the ante’ of California’s progressive energy policies by mandating CO2 limits on State entities. This law is the closest state regulation to a national energy policy that is currently in place. It was signed into law in 2006 by a Republican governor.
If the citizens of California overturn AB32 by voting for Proposition 23, it demonstrates to political and business leaders the lack of public support for energy regulation and alternative energy investment – in the most energy progressive and technologically innovative state in the Nation.
What the general public might not know is that the economic health of California depends on the continuing innovative business investments of alternative energy, green tech and other sustainability sector technologies/products/services.
If Prop 23 passes, this is all at risk. And make no mistake about it, as California goes on non-fossil fuel energy innovation, so will go the nation.
Learn more about Proposition 23 and support efforts to defeat it.
NY Times: CA Braces for Showdown on Emissions
LA Times: Michael Hiltzik Follows the Money on Prop 23 Funding
Huffington Post: Reversing Course on Climate Policy is the Real Job Killer
National Resources Defense Council – No on Prop 23
Electric Auto Charging Stations of the Future
My Prius purchase a few years ago was my personal step into the future of gasoline-less auto transportation. Auto manufacturers and technology companies have been working to solve practicality issues associated with electric vehicles (“EVs”). And now the issue of re-charging is being solved given the recent electric vehicle charger announcements.
The car chargers make sure EVs have enough power stored in their batteries to take us from point A to point B. Like the vehicles that they charge, EV chargers aren’t uniform. A number of established companies (and startups) have revealed unique charger designs intended for both home and commercial use.
Pictured here is the charger created for EV startup Better Place. For other chargers see Fast Company.
For more information on Electric Vehicles and Chargers:
CNN: Network of EV Charging Stations On Tap
Treehugger.com: 28 States to Get Smartlet EV Charging Station Distributors
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