The state’s economy might be floundering, but across California green jobs have been booming, with Orange County near the head of the pack in more than one category.

A new report by a nonprofit California research group, Next 10, says that 160,000 green jobs — in energy, transportation and other categories — existed in California in January 2008. That includes 17,700 jobs in Orange County.

That represents a 50 percent increase in green jobs in Orange County between 1995 and 2008. Statewide, the number was 36 percent, topping the state’s total of 13 percent for all jobs.

From January 2007 to January 2008, green jobs in California increased by 5 percent, while jobs decreased by 1 percent in the economy as a whole.

“We have a wonderful green economic foundation for the future,” said Next 10 founder Noel Perry. “And there’s going to be, I think, tremendous opportunity for employment.”

Orange County saw a 176 percent increase in energy-generation jobs during the study period, the report says, with only the Central Coast region showing bigger growth at 200 percent.

Solar power manufacturing, service and installation represent the bulk of those jobs, said Doug Henton, chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics Research in Mountain View, the consulting company that did the study for Next 10.

Orange County’s biggest growth area, however, was in the transportation sector. The group found an increase of 1,875 percent for Orange County, more than twice the state average and behind only the San Diego region at 2,655 percent.

In Orange County, that includes companies developing alternative fuels, or the vehicles that rely on them, Henton said. The researchers were especially intrigued by an Irvine company called BlueFire Ethanol, which is trying to develop alternative ways to manufacture ethanol instead of using corn.

The report, “Many Shades of Green: Diversity and Distribution of California’s Green Jobs,” comes with a few uncertainties. The time-frame fails to capture the effects of the recession, for example, or the effects of federal stimulus dollars pumped into the state for green jobs and projects.

The indicators might reveal continued growth in green jobs in 2009, but the report does not include any projections.

“I would think things have continued to go up, but maybe not as significantly,” Perry said. “Put that down as pure speculation.”

And identifying “green jobs” is a bit of an art form, he said. A variety of databases were used, but so far there is no standardized way to identify such jobs, he said.

Perry also doesn’t want to overstate the report’s conclusions.

Green jobs are not “going to save California right now,” he said. “We have over 12.5 percent unemployment.”

And 160,000 green jobs statewide comes out to perhaps 1 percent of 16 million to 18 million total jobs.

Still, he said, that compares well to the state’s 200,000 software jobs and 100,000 biotech jobs.

Perry said he believes California has a solid foundation in green employment.

“The reason why green jobs are prevalent around California is because of policies that have been created — to deal with climate change, with energy efficiency, to encourage renewables,” Perry said. “And also because of Silicon Valley.”

(Register photo of SolarCity workers installing panels on a Westminster home by Mike Goulding; Register graphics by Scott Brown.)

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