Maine slides in overall clean-tech rankings; excels in some areas
Maine fell three places to rank 29th in clean technology leadership, but there are some bright spots, like its energy generation mix, according to the annual 2014 Clean Tech Leadership Index rankings released recently by Clean Edge Inc., a research firm in Portland, Ore., and the San Francisco Bay area.
The rankings in the report covered 2013.
“Maine fell from 26th last year [2012] in the overall rankings,” Bryce Yonker, director of business development for Clean Edge in Oregon, told Mainebiz.
One of the reasons for Maine’s slide from 26th to 29th is that other states are surging in clean-tech efforts in areas where Maine isn’t, he added.
But he pointed to bright spots for the state. “If you look at the energy generation mix, in 2013 Maine generated 61% of its total energy within the state, ranking it fifth in the country,” he says.
By clean energy type, hydropower led in Maine with 29% of the energy generation. That was followed by biomass with 25%, which put Maine at the top rank nationally for that fuel. Wind was 7.5% of the total clean energy generation, and solar utility projects’ and geothermal’s contributions were negligible in 2013.
Clean Edge used about 70 different indicators, including clean electricity mix, clean transportation, clean buildings and clean energy policies. Maine ranked 15th in using technology with clean electricity, 26th in terms of capital and even lower in terms of clean-tech policy at 36th.The state was in the middle of the pack in terms of clean transportation, Yonker said.
“Maine dropped out of the Top 10 to 11th in electricity consumption per capita, and fell to 11th this year from 9th last year per capita in LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] buildings,” he said.
The state’s energy efficiency program was especially hard-hit, with its $21 million budget per capita dropping Maine’s ranking to 30th from 21st the prior year.
“Those nine points are a pretty substantial drop,” he said.
In the Top 10 overall leadership rankings, other New England state’s fared well. While California led the rankings, Massachusetts ranked 2nd, Vermont 9th and Connecticut 10th. Rhode Island was 13th and New Hampshire 16th. Of the six New England states, Maine was the only one not to crack the Top 20.
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