Jobs in the green sector are growing across New York and across the nation, according to a recent survey report by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) released on Aug. 28. “We saw three major projects there in New York that created, combined, more than 600 jobs,” says Robert Keefe, executive director of E2, a Washington, D.C.–based nonpartisan […]
Jobs in the green sector are growing across New York and across the nation, according to a recent survey report by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) released on Aug. 28.
“We saw three major projects there in New York that created, combined, more than 600 jobs,” says Robert Keefe, executive director of E2, a Washington, D.C.–based nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and others who promote environmental policies.
One of those projects is San Mateo, Calif.–based Solar City’s announced $200 million acquisition of Silevo, a California–based solar-panel technology and manufacturing company. As part of the acquisition, Solar City plans to build a 1 gigawatt (GW) annual production capacity manufacturing facility near Buffalo that will add several hundred jobs to start and could eventually lead to 1,000 jobs, Keefe says.
While that is great news, Keefe says, “The real story in New York is the story to come.” He’s referring to New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative.
REV is designed to help the state meet its goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030, he says. The three main ways to do that are to make current power plants more efficient, replace energy that currently comes from fossil fuel with energy from renewable sources, and to make buildings more efficient. All of those efforts, Keefe says, will create jobs and stimulate economic growth.
“REV is a great thing,” he says. “It’s the type of policy we think is going to lead to dramatic clean-energy job growth.”
E2 has been tracking green jobs since 2011, and it says that in the second quarter of 2014, more than 12,500 clean energy and transportation jobs were announced in 29 states.
“That’s double what it was the previous quarter,” Keefe notes.
E2’s “Clean Energy Works for Us: Second Quarter 2014 Report” noted a number of projects besides the Solar City project in Buffalo that helped contribute to the increase nationally. Omaha, Neb.–based Tenaska, an independent energy provider, recently closed a deal to build a solar-energy center in California, a project that is creating 800 new construction jobs. The Boston Housing Authority’s project to install public-housing water and energy retrofits across the city helped create 600 new jobs there.
The solar sector saw the most job growth during the quarter, with 22 total projects announced and five solar companies announcing hiring in the residential sector in New York as well as Arizona, California, and Massachusetts.
Other areas of growth include electric vehicles and wind farms, particularly offshore wind projects in Oregon, New Jersey, and Virginia, Keefe says.
“These aren’t the jobs of the future anymore,” he says. “These are the jobs of today and they are growing.”
Keefe says the green industry is growing and thriving for three main reasons. First, he contends, Americans want clean energy. Second, American innovation, in the form of products like electric cars, is driving growth. Finally, good policy, such as New York’s REV initiative, leads to good business.
E2 (www.e2.org) says its mission is to create a platform for business leaders to promote environmentally sustainable economic growth. The group’s members have been involved in financing, founding, or developing more than 1,700 companies that have created more than 570,000 jobs.
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