The idea that Sacramento can become a center for green business has been developing for awhile, and though the Bay Area would seem to have the strongest case for much of the private venture capitalism that could push green business forward, Sacramento has the governmental capacity.
As much of the economic stimulus for green technology will emerge from public policy and the corresponding legislative funding streams, this gives us a leg up, and it is one that appears to be working, as this article from the Sacramento Bee reports.
An excerpt.
“When it comes to the nation's efforts to curb global warming, few places are more important than Sacramento; it is here that California's groundbreaking laws and regulations are written.
“That, local business leaders say, gives the region a major boost in its effort to become a hub of the developing green economy. They are looking to green tech – also known as clean tech – as a way to strengthen and diversify Sacramento's job base.
"The hope is that in clean tech, companies will want to be located in Sacramento to be closer to the regulatory process," said Steven Currall, dean of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis.
“In other ways, though, Sacramento seems an unlikely candidate to emerge a winner among the many regions trying to build a green-tech industry. Sacramento lags the Bay Area when it comes to raising money for new companies, and its previous efforts to establish itself in the high-tech and biotechnology industries faltered.
“Still, business development officials say green-tech companies are showing unprecedented interest in opening shop in Sacramento, despite the bad economy.
"It's a wave of activity like we've never seen," said Bob Burris, deputy director of the Sacramento Area Trade and Commerce Organization, the region's nonprofit business recruiter.
“Although there's no official method for counting green jobs, one leading advocacy group says Sacramento is doing well on that front. Palo Alto-based nonprofit Next 10 recently released a study concluding that Sacramento led all California regions in percentage growth of green jobs from 1995 to 2008, with an 87 percent jump from 7,019 to 13,102.
“By Next 10's count, Sacramento has more green jobs per capita than the Bay Area, Los Angeles or San Diego.”
