Green businesses grow 45% from 1995 to 2008 in California, report finds

A new report suggests that green business is good in the Golden State, with the number of companies up 45%.

The data will officially be released tomorrow by Next 10 and Collaborative Economics, both based in Northern California. Among the big news is that while total jobs grew just 13% in the state from 1995 to 2008, green employment jumped 36%.

And even during the slow economy from 2007 to 2008, green jobs inched up 5% while overall employment fell 1%.

Service-related positions made up 45% of all green jobs in California, with the largest portion in environmental consulting. Manufacturing jobs took up another 21%, half of them in energy efficiency and the other half in energy generation.

Employment in energy generation expanded by nearly 10,000 jobs -- or 61% -- from 1995 to 2008, with solar representing the largest portion and the strongest growth.

Energy-efficiency jobs increased 63% since 1995, while positions in green transportation boomed 152%.

Highlights from Southern California include:

• 40,000 total green jobs from 1995 to 2008 in the Los Angeles area, including Ventura County


• 18,000 green jobs in Orange County in 2008


• In the Los Angeles area, energy-generation jobs grew 35%, energy-efficiency positions leaped 77% and green-transportation posts rose 29%


• In Orange County, green-transportation jobs, including in alternative fuels and motor vehicles, shot up an astounding 1,875%. Energy-generation positions grew 176% and energy-efficiency posts increased 78%.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Full story at http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/MoneyCompany/~3/NikCWq6hwoQ/green-businesses-grow-45-from-1995-to-2008-says-report.html