This year more than 5,000 people attended the Green Summit, which wrapped up on Wednesday. Organizers say those numbers reflect a bullish outlook on the prospects for green business growth.
SCOTT BRODIE: "We manufacture prismatic skylights where we reduce the need for electric lighting during the daytime."
That is Scott Brodie from Sacramento based
Sunoptics.
SCOTT BRODIE: "Our largest customer is Wal-Mart
Corporation. We've done over 600,000 skylights where we have
saved them in excess of 200 million dollars annually in energy
costs, by virtue of them shutting off their lights for about eight
hours per day."
Brodie has Sunoptics has increased its workforce 30% in the last two years to about 100 people working in their south Sacramento factory. That may be part of a trend.
While the state's overall economy remains sluggish, California companies attracted 40% of global clean tech venture capital last year, bringing in more than 3 billion dollars to the state.