Developing a Green Economy in Houston

Abstract

This report uses a framework developed by Laurie Kaye Nijaki, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan to investigate the potential for developing a green economy in the city of Houston. She chose to divide the green economy into meaningful clusters that can help economic development professionals identify opportunities within the region. These clusters include: Green Building and Construction; Biofuels/ Farming/ Agriculture; Transportation/ Alternative Fuel Vehicles; Waste, Waste Management, and Recycling; Environmental Compliance, Sustainability Planning, and Pollution Prevention; and Energy Generation, Renewable Energy, and Energy Storage. Under the framework she developed, I evaluated the overall economy of a Metropolitan Statistical Area – in this case the Houston-Sugar Land Baytown MSA – across a number of quantitative and qualitative characteristics. I perform economic analysis on industries and occupations to understand which ones are in high concentrations within the region that give it a comparative advantage. I then link them to each of the green clusters to determine which one has support from a large potential workforce. I then perform an institutional analysis to determine how support for a green economy is organized within the region. For this institutional analysis, I review of sustainability policies and programs of local governments and government agencies in the region – in this case the City of Houston, Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council. I then link those policies to individual green economy clusters. I then identify local green business and nonprofit alliances and then link them to the green economy clusters. To supplement this data, I also interviewed a number of local green economy stakeholders to gain additional perspective on the current and future state of the green economy in the region. Once, I perform this analysis, I evaluate each green economy cluster across all dimensions to determine which one Houston has a comparative advantage in. I then identify strategies for local economic development stakeholders can use to develop a green economy in Houston. These strategies include: workforce development strategies, geographic and land-use strategies, financing mechanisms, business incubation, and government procurement.