New Mexico Green Economy Report Released

The New Mexico Green Jobs Cabinet Report entitled New Mexico's Green Economy: Capitalizing on Assets and Opportunities, has been released to the public. You can find the full report here. I am pleased to have assisted with the writing of this report.

New Mexico is rapidly becoming a global leader in pure energy innovation. Abundant renewable energy resources, world-class clean technology research and manufacturing, attractive incentives, low business costs, and visionary state, federal and local government leadership are drawing international attention to the Land of Enchantment.

To formulate a cohesive plan to develop and capitalize on these varied resources, Governor Bill Richardson created the Green Jobs Cabinet. This Cabinet was tasked with providing an overview of New Mexico’s green economy and a statewide strategic plan for clean technology economic development. The Green Economy is a broad term that covers everything from renewable energy to recycling to green building. New Mexico is focused on identifying and developing assets (both natural and economic) of the Green Economy, as well as creating and sustaining green jobs.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department released the final report in September 2009, outlining five strategies to grow New Mexico’s green economy and offered recommendations to achieve these goals.

GOAL #1: Be the Leader in Renewable Energy Export: Establish New Mexico as the leading exporter of renewable energy and renewable energy products, in the areas of both electricity and biofuels. SOLUTION: Incentivize/stimulate renewable energy growth in electricity and biofuels; Get our renewable energy to market; Align incentives for utilities with the state economic development goals; Provide a supportive regulatory environment; Market and promote the state’s assets, accomplishments and vision. GOAL #2: Be the Center of the North American Solar Industry: Make New Mexico the “Solar Valley” of the United States: New Mexico must harness its potential to develop a vertically integrated solar economy from R&D and demonstration to commercialization, startup businesses, manufacturing, and installation. The entire value chain resides in New Mexico. SOLUTION: Stimulate the rapid growth of solar energy; incentivize solar manufacturing. GOAL #3: Lead the Nation in Green Grid Innovation: Leverage technology from our national laboratories and universities to create an entrepreneurial engine of new high tech, clean tech businesses. Make the “green grid” a top priority. SOLUTION: Promote commercialization of new clean technologies; put focus on the Green Grid to leverage limited resources. GOAL #4: Be a Center of Excellence for Green Building and Energy Efficiency: Remain a leader in green building and develop a sustainable energy efficiency renovation industry with a supporting cluster of green building product manufacturers. SOLUTION: Develop a building energy efficiency renovation sector; Maintain leadership in new construction of green buildings; Grow our cluster of green building product manufacturers. GOAL #5: Have a Highly Skilled and Ready-to-Work Workforce: Matching industry growth projections with a highly skilled workforce is paramount to the success of New Mexico’s green economy. SOLUTION: Create an industry-driven green workforce development sector strategy aligned with these economic development goals; Develop green economy data and career framework; Expand green job training programs across the state; Provide customized just-in-time training solutions for growing green businesses. CONCLUSIONS Although the green economy is projected to grow nationwide, there is intense competition between states for investment dollars, especially given recent job losses created by the global recession. Despite our natural advantages, New Mexico must continue to aggressively compete for investment if it wants to create clean industry clusters and capture its share of economic development from clean energy and clean technology.