The Clean Energy Economy Is Already Booming

categories: Clean Energy, Jobs & Economy

Published June 11, 2009 @ 08:46PM PT

Green Jobs Rally at the Capitol Building in Wash. DC, 2009

Without much attention from policymakers, or funding from the public trough, a low-carbon economy has already taken off in the United States. The jobs being created nationwide in clean energy are helping to bolster the nation's environmental sustainability and cut greenhouse gas emissions -- and expanding at a faster rate than the U.S. economy overall.

Research by The Pew Charitable Trusts, published in a new report titled "The Clean Energy Economy," found that:

Between 1998 and 2007, jobs in clean energy grew at a faster rate than overall jobs.

By 2007, more than 68,200 businesses across all 50 states and the District of Columbia accounted for about 770,000 jobs.

Jobs in clean energy, both white-collar and blue-collar, grew at a rate of 9.1 percent, while total jobs grew at a rate of 3.7 percent.

Clean tech has not been immune to the economic meltdown, but it's proving to be an especially resilient sector: Although venture capital investment in clean tech dropped by 48 percent in the first three months of 2009 (compared to the same period in 2008), investment across the board was down 61 percent during the same period.

Employment in clean energy covers a broad swath of blue-collar and white-collar jobs, including plumbers, machinists, scientists, engineers, bankers and marketing consultants. Annual incomes ranging from around $21,000 to $111,000.

Imagine how clean energy jobs would have grown if the sector had received the enormous public policy support, government subsidies and private investment of, say, biotechnology? Despite the hype and money poured into biotech for the past twenty years, Pew reports that the sector employed fewer than 200,000 workers, around one tenth of one percent of total U.S. jobs in 2007. That's less than third of the number employed in clean tech.

As for fossil energy (including utilities, coal mining and oil and gas extraction), the century-old sector so often touted as an indispensable source of jobs for Americans: Pew found that this sector employed only around 1.27 million workers in 2007, or about 1 percent of total employment.

Just under 14 million were employed in manufacturing in 2007, but jobs in the sector shrank by 21 percent in the same period that clean energy was growing. "This long, steady decline accelerated during the past year as the recession hit, leaving workers in need of jobs—and states in need of new industries to serve as their economic engines," says the Pew report. "Today, a growing number of states are looking to identify and cultivate new industries and areas of economic growth to help them better compete in the 21st century global marketplace."

These numbers would seem to put the lie to claims by opponents of clean energy and climate legislation that cutting the carbon out of our economy will cripple the nation.

Far from it: Clean tech research, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas controls, environmentally friendly manufacturing, and renewable energy are demonstrably the long-term fixes to economic instability and decline. They're creating jobs here at home, generating sustainable revenues, cutting our greenhouse gas pollution, and positioning the U.S. to be relevant in the 21st century.

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Comments (6)

Global warming is our generation's biggest challenge, but our nation has found the courage to face great challenges in the past. When we pushed back fascists in World War II and marched in the streets for civil rights, it wasn't easy. But we had true heroes willing to fight for what was right. It's exciting to see Congress consider global warming legislation this year. Unfortunately, it already looks like industry lobbyists have taken control of our lawmakers. The current climate bill is loaded with loopholes and giveaways to dirty energy companies. So, if there are real congressional heroes out there - it's time for you to step up and deliver a science-based global warming solution that protects our future, not industry pocketbooks. Please write your Congressional Representatives and Senators and demand they protect you, your family, and friends from global warming, not just your Financial Adviser and his minions at the home office....Not one pound of CO2 will be removed from the sky with this cave in to the dirty fossil fuel and scientifically failed Nuclear Industry. Just Imagine a society that believes that throwing money into the air will restore our atmosphere, now look in the mirror and meet a member of that society....You must demand safety, not just a growth econometric, that will continue to degrade our planet's ability to support life as we know it.

Posted by jack bradin on 06/12/2009 @ 10:09AM PT
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great to see somethings are doing well even better to see good things are doing well.. those interested in imporoving their green innitiaves check out www.e3bank.com and see how they can help you reach your goals.

Posted by Chris Raynes on 06/12/2009 @ 10:22AM PT
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It's great to see the resiliency in the green sector. I'm getting more and more discouraged in teaching, and moving into an environmental career would be a great option for my skills and philosophies.

Posted by Daisy Okay on 06/12/2009 @ 11:41AM PT
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Green Collar Man here! It may be true that the idealism of green is becoming popular, yet, we are a culture of faddism; that is, we get involved with what ever is hip at the time. This very website is but one example! I.E: We see in 7 decade-old Hollywood productions, the concerted effort to make sure all actors had a cigarette burning in every scene! And yet, all the tobacco incinerated on Earth forever, does not equal the carcinogens that fossils fuels emit per day! Now, I'm a non-smoker; the point is that we get hooked on what we're told; we become parrots of socio-cultural slogans, and are then ready to fight for that cause. We like the approval of other humans and the effort to fit in soon becomes pathetic!
Change rarely comes, but by brute force. See human History for all necessary data! As for Green Jobs? Again, the ideals do not align with the Science. I'm currently writing a book to teach farmers how to produce their own fuels; to grow a portion of their crop to be refined into bio-fuels on-site for their own farm implements. But it takes an initial investment, and so, for those who are not foresighted, it's just easier to buy petroleum products locally! What would change their minds quickly? $10 a gallon! I.E: Force it! This same logic applies to the production of automobiles and the like. Change will come through law, punishment and force.
I have been seeking Green Collar employment for over a year: Nodda! The idea that there are Green Jobs everywhere is ridiculous! I define green as a person who has not burned one gallon of fossil fuels for at least one year; perhaps that is why!

Posted by Paul Andrew Anderson on 06/13/2009 @ 08:34AM PT
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So if buying petroleum locally is such a good idea, why can't they open up ANWR for drilling?

Posted by Mark O on 06/14/2009 @ 12:06PM PT
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Why don't you ask the Native Americans who are the only locals there?

Posted by Robert Bonfante on 06/14/2009 @ 12:54PM PT
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