Envision Charlotte: Building an Energy Cluster

Description

To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color. On October 28, 2011, 1,500 people, including many civic and business leaders, gathered outdoors in a Charlotte, North Carolina city square to celebrate the launch of Envision: Charlotte, a first-in-the-nation smart grid plan aimed at reducing energy use in the central business district. The initiative called for a 20% reduction in energy consumption in the city while promoting the region's burgeoning energy sector by attracting green-minded companies to the urban core and position Charlotte as a highly progressive business center. The idea was to make Charlotte the "new energy hub of America" and diversify away from its historical reliance on banking - a historically volatile industry. Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers and the other leaders in attendance hoped that rallying around a shared idea and supporting a civic initiative such as Envision was the formula for economic sustainability.

Keywords

Clusters Competition Competitive environment Economic growth Infrastructure Vision