ALBANY -- The Capital Region is emerging as a national leader in green technology and clean energy, with a cluster of companies and institutions employing a rapidly rising number of workers.

In fact, no metropolitan area in the country has a greater percentage of workers employed by the so-called green economy, according to a new report by The Brookings Institution, which found that 6.8 percent of Capital Region jobs are devoted to producing environmental benefits.

The Washington think tank calls the Albany area "a surprise leader in the green economy."

The report, "Sizing the Green Economy," is the latest evidence of an ongoing transformation of a Capital Region economy that is less and less reliant on old pillars like state government and is growing on the strength of advanced research and high technology.

Green technology in fields such as renewable energy, in particular, is forecast to boom in coming decades, as the world looks to temper global warming and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. And the findings of the Brookings report suggest the Albany area is primed to participate in that growth.

"The springboard that green technology provides in the global marketplace works very well to ensure that we have a diverse and sustainable economy over the long-term," said F. Michael Tucker, head of the Center for Economic Growth in Albany.

The report's definition of a green job is quite broad. It includes, for example, organic farmers, public transit workers and state employees at the Department of Environmental Conservation.

But the Capital Region also ranks well when green employment is more narrowly defined to include only highly skilled, "green-tech" positions.

Indeed, Brookings says only the San Francisco area, with 13,917 green-tech workers in 2010, bests the Albany area's employment of 10,092 people in the sector.

Many of the workers are employed at sites such as the Albany NanoTech complex along Fuller Road or General Electric's renewable energy headquarters in Schenectady. They also work for companies like Plug Power Inc., a fuel-cell company in Latham, or AWS True Power, a wind-energy consultant in Colonie.

Brookings notes the Albany area is one of just four metros -- Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco are the others -- contributing $1 billion annually to the clean-export economy.

The report also says the Albany area has had the fifth-fastest growing clean economy among larger metropolitan areas, with the number of jobs in the sector growing by an average of 8.8 percent annually from 2003 to 2010.

That growth is opening eyes -- and attracting new companies.

Ashok Sood, chief executive of Magnolia Solar, visited the Capital Region 15 years ago and found that the area seemed in economic decline. But the region has since changed so much that Sood decided to locate a portion of his solar-technology firm at the NanoTech complex.

"I see Albany becoming one of the hotbeds," predicted Sood, who expects his Woburn, Mass.-based company, with just a handful of Albany workers, to add at least 100 employees in the region.

For all its touting of the area, the report by Brookings doesn't include some of the region's most recent green economy accomplishments -- a sign of how quickly the sector continues to grow, despite the down national economy.

It doesn't mention, for example, a recent $57.5 million federal grant to the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to create a solar manufacturing consortium, and its data doesn't include hiring for GE's new $100 million battery plant in Schenectady.

GE is also planning the nation's largest solar panel manufacturing plant, a $600 million project that would create 400 jobs. The company hasn't said, though, whether it will locate the facility in the Capital Region.

Brookings praises New York state government for backing the green economy with hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. In particular, it cites the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and its Clean Energy Business Incubator Program.

"Policy does matter," said Mark Muro, a Brookings senior fellow and author of the report. "We've had unsteady and shaky national policy on the green economy, but (New York) state has done a lot of things to support it."

The report's best benefit to the Capital Region might be in the national publicity it generates, showing a national audience that the Albany area increasingly has more in common with cities such as Boston and San Francisco than with Rust Belt metro areas.

"We used to be the best-kept secret," said Pradeep Haldar, vice president for clean energy programs at Albany NanoTech. "But the secret's out now -- which is a good thing."

More Information Clean and green The Brookings Institution has identified the Capital Region as a national leader in the green economy. No other region has more workers employed in fields with an environmental benefit. Here's how the Capital Region compares with some other metro areas nationally (2010 numbers): Total number of green jobs Green jobs as share of all jobs Avg. annual growth of green employment Albany28,0876.3%8.8% Austin, Texas14,5541.9%5.3% Boston41,8251.7%3.0% San Jose18,8682.2%-0.4% New York City152,0341.8%5.5% Portland, Ore.27,4892.7%4.1% Source: The Brookings Institution See More Collapse

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