Recent reports indicate that the growth of green jobs has far outpaced the rest of the job market in California, with energy generation and green consulting jobs being the North Coast's strongest market.
The “Many Shades of Green” report, released last week, tracks the growth of green jobs statewide. This is the second edition of the report -- commissioned by Next 10, an organization that funds research on statewide issues -- and includes data from 2008 to 2009 with comparisons to data from 1995. Tracey Grose, vice president and director of research and strategic development at Collaborative Economics, which Next 10 commissioned to do the research, said the report shows that a good economy and an environmentally conscious world can coexist. According to the report, California's green economy overall has grown by 56 percent since 1995, compared to the state's overall job growth of 18 percent. Additionally, the North Coast has seen a 46 percent increase in green jobs since 1995, while North Coast employment overall has grown by 15 percent.
"The green job data is significant because these jobs are growing in every region across the state, outpacing other vital sectors, and generating business across the supply chain," F. Noel Perry, Next 10's founder, said in a statement. "There are very few business sectors in a state as large as California that employ people across every region. The emergence of this vibrant Core Green Economy can be attributed to California's history of innovation, as well as our forward-looking energy and energy efficiency policies."
Grose said green job growth is growing faster in urban areas where more research and development for new green technologies is centered. Recent academic programs that cover the greening of buildings through energy efficiency and renovations, are emerging staewide throughout our Universities - holding courses on any type of green course the community is interested in. Many of the programs are spurred by a combination of new regulations and interest.
Energy generation consists of jobs focusing on harnessing energy through sources such as solar, wind and geothermal. Grose said rural areas in general have more focus on solar energy. On the North Coast, half of the energy generation jobs are geothermal. Geothermal harnesses the earth's heat to heat water and uses that steam to turn a turbine that then creates electricity, Grose said. ”It's not a real high tech thing, but as energy prices continue to rise, these alternatives or renewable choices become more interesting as we need to meet growing demands,” she said.
The North Coast's next-strongest segment is air and environment jobs, which include environmental consulting jobs. The report highlights the Mattole Salmon Group, a nonprofit working to restore salmon populations in the Mattole watershed since 1980, as an example of a business in this sector. According to the report, air and environment represents 24 percent of the region's green economy. Environmental consulting accounted for the largest and fastest-growing subset within the air and environment sector. In 2009, environmental consulting jobs grew by 400 -- an increase of over 110 percent since 1995. Growth in green jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area jumped 8 percent between 2008 and 2009 and 109 percent since 1995, according to the report. The Bay Area, in fact, accounts for 28 percent of all green jobs in the state. No surprise there, given Silicon Valley and the cluster of solar and energy companies that have flocked to the regionor have been spun out of universities. Los Angeles has a 23 percent share of green jobs and is a hub of electric car and energy development. But the report found that the green economy has expanded to most corners of California.
One interesting statistic: The green economy has revived, to some extent, the long decline of manufacturing in California. About 26 percent of green workers are employed actually making things, compared to 11 percent of all employees.
Other growing trends to watch in the North Coast included water and wastewater and agricultural support.
Potions of this article by Donna Tam/The Times-Standard, January 24, 2011
