18 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week

Welcome to this week's issue of What Economic Developers Need to Know This Week, where we explore the evolving dynamics of our economy. 

This week we have 18 tools, stories, graphics, charts, and videos that I think you'll find informative, useful, inspiring, and perhaps even humorous. Some are economic development related directly, and some only indirectly. 🤔

If you're wondering what to do with the info in this newsletter, send something to your board members. It will make you look good!

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1) For the first time, infrastructure is the top-weighted category in CNBC's 17th study of state competitiveness. Here's more.

The 2024 Top State for Business will be revealed on July 11th all day on CNBC.

2) Business Retention and Expansion International announced the 2024 Awards of Excellence winners:

• Outstanding Single Community With a Population Under 20,000 - Kilgore Economic Development Corporation, Kilgore, Texas
• Outstanding Single Community With a Population 20,000-50,000 - Ohio State University & Ohio Sea Grant College Program, Perrysburg, Ohio
• Outstanding Single Community With a Population Over 50,000 - Halifax Partnership, Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Outstanding State / Province Award - Community Futures Mid-Sask, Outlook, Saskatchewan

3) California update: Since about 2020, the population living east of I-5 has surpassed those living to the west.

4) The Economist's latest cover story on solar energy is packed with interesting stats.

• Solar energy will be the primary source of human energy use by 2040
• $500B will be spent on buying and installing new solar panels this year (nearly the same as upstream oil and gas)
• Solar on track to produce "more electricity than all the world's:
  • nuclear power plants in 2026
  • wind turbines in 2027
  • dams in 2028
  • gas-fired power plants in 2030
  • coal-fired ones in 2032
• Since the 1960s the break-even price for solar a project has dropped by a factor of more than 1,000
• From the mid-1970s to the early 2020s cumulative shipments of photovoltaics increased by a factor of a million.
• Over the same span, the prices dropped by a factor of 500.
• The cost of a kilowatt-hour of battery storage has fallen by 99% over the past 30 years.

5) Speaking of solar, here's a very interesting story on the Red Lake Solar Project, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, and how the Inflation Reduction Act could change the future of one Native American reservation (and eventually) more of them.

6) Time to use those vacation days: