Solar farm in Boulder City, NV. (Photo: Shutterstock)
As Percent Of Gross State Product, Nevada Ranks #1 In Clean Investment
A joint study finds that Nevada invests 2.1 percent of state GSP in “clean energy and industry”
By Megan Barth, December 16, 2023 3:07 pm
According to The Clean Investment Monitor (CIM), a joint study (see below) conducted by MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Rhodium Group, concludes that Nevada ranks as the number one state in clean investment based on the percent of gross state product (GSP). GSP is the state counterpart to the Nation’s gross domestic product.
The data shows that Nevada invests 2.1 percent of GSP in clean energy and industry. In 2022, Nevada’s GSP was $215,917,800,000. Assuming their figures are accurate, Nevadan’s have invested $450 million in clean energy and industry.
The CIM tracks public and private investments in manufacturing and deployment of climate technologies in the United States. The data and analysis “provides insights into investment trends, the effects of federal and state policies, and on-the-ground progress in the U.S. towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”
As reported by The Globe, a 2019 law was passed unilaterally by the Democratic majority that calls for a net-zero emissions goal by 2050.
Adhering to the law, Washoe County and city governments throughout Nevada, with ancillary funding from the state and federal government, are investing significant financial and human resources to meet this standard.
The study finds:
Clean energy and transportation investment in the United States reached a record $64 billion in Q3 2023, the highest amount recorded to date, up from $60 billion in Q2 2023 and $45 billion in Q3 of 2022 (Figure 1).
Clean investment accounted for 4.9% of total US private investment in structures, equipment, and durable consumer goods nationwide in Q3. That’s an increase from 3.4% in Q3 2022 and 1.8% at the beginning of 2018.
So far in 2023, there has been $178 billion in clean investment in the US, up 40% from the same period last year. (emphasis added)
Additionally, the Biden administration has invested heavily into the University of Nevada Reno and lithium mining. Last month, the administration designated UNR as a 2023 Technology Hub due to UNR’s core technology in lithium batteries and other electronic vehicle (EV) materials. As one of 31 Technology Hubs identified by the administration, a portion of $500 million in grants will be distributed to the designees.
Researchers from UNLV’s business school discovered that the lithium industry employs around 9,000 people in Nevada. However, that figure is expected to increase as lithium demand is expected to increase more than sixfold by 2030 compared to 2020. In response to Biden’s push for a “clean energy future,” the Ioneer mine received a $700 million conditional loan from the Department of Energy.
Earlier this year, Governor Joe Lombardo joined Elon Musk to announce Tesla’s new $3.6B giga factory in Northern Nevada.
In an interview with Business Facilities, Governor Lombardo stressed that “Nevada will be ground zero for the energy transition… a global leader in the development and utilization of clean energy innovations. It will capitalize on its strengths and export innovative processes and products in mining and production of batteries and solar energy to new global markets supported by a robust, statewide electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage infrastructure.”
The CIM study finds, with respect to clean technology manufacturing, including EV’s and solar, Nevada ranks seventh. For investment in clean energy generation and industrial decarbonization, Nevada ranks third. The Silver State ranks fourth when it comes to clean energy and industry investment, spending 0.8 percent of the state GDP on clean investments.
On X (formerly Twitter), Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto cited the bipartisan study and announced that “we’ve still got more to do.”
Ever since I was elected to the Senate, I’ve worked to make Nevada the best state in the country for clean energy, because it creates good-paying jobs for our families. Now we’re seeing the results of that work – and we’ve still got more to do.https://t.co/MnEpDtcVGD pic.twitter.com/WCckUV1jIW
— Senator Cortez Masto (@SenCortezMasto) December 14, 2023
During a brief address to the Nevada Legislature and Governor Joe Lombardo, Cortez Masto encouraged bipartisanship to lead the clean energy economy in Nevada in order to do “everything we can do for our working families and businesses.”
“Nevada is at the forefront of leading the innovation economy. I call Nevada the “Innovation State.” We have the universities, companies, mining, minerals and the laboratories that are incubating ideas and pioneering technologies to create the jobs of the future,” Cortez Masto noted.
“We have the sun and we have capitalized on our solar economy. We are the center of the clean energy and critical mineral future. It is the only state in the US that econompasses the full spectrum of the clean energy economy. Nevada is primed to lead the country into the clean energy future. We need to take this opportunity to create good jobs….good union jobs,” she emphasized.
MIT Clean Investment Monitor
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