| Colorado ‘Green Collar Jobs’ Forecast: 613,000 Jobs from Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency by 2 |
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| Written by Rob W. |
| Wednesday, 04 February 2009 13:57 |
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ASES/MISI Study Highlights Colorado’s New Role as a National Leader in the Rapidly Growing Green Economy Colorado is well positioned to take advantage of new growth in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, creating long-term opportunities in rapidly growing fields. Key findings of the report are stated below. The report also contains details on over 160 renewable energy and energy efficiency occupational specialties and emerging areas, as well as corresponding salaries, education requirements, and company profiles. Key conclusions from the report include: • Renewable energy and energy efficiency industries are already significant economic drivers in Colorado and are well positioned for future growth. In 2007 RE/EE generated $10.3 billion in sales and provided over 91,000 jobs in Colorado, accounting for more than 4% of the gross state product. This could grow to as much as $61.5 billion and 613,000 jobs by 2030 with continued leadership, research, development, and policy efforts. • Despite fierce competition from other regions of the U.S., Colorado is a disproportionately large player in the renewable energy industry. Colorado’s gross state product accounts for only about 1.7% of the U.S. GDP, but in 2007 Colorado had about 6% of the U.S. wind market, nearly 6% of the photovoltaics market, and about 5% of the biofuels market. • Hottest sectors include: wind, solar thermal, solar photovoltaics, fuel cells, biofuel, R&D (federal government), recycling, energy efficient windows/doors, green building • The vast majority of jobs created by RE&EE are in roles similar to roles that are in other industries. Hot job areas include: electricians, truck drivers, welders, machinists, roofers, accountants, cashiers, software engineers, civil engineers, energy efficient construction, energy audit specialists. • While renewable energy sectors are growing more rapidly than the energy efficiency industry, the energy efficiency industry is much larger and will see the greatest number of new jobs added. • Current RE/EE jobs are located throughout the state, in urban centers, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. Most of the firms are relatively small, though they range in size significantly. These firms employ workers at all skill levels, from basic and rudimentary to the very highly skilled technical and professional. • RE&EE generates about 70% more jobs than the oil and gas sector. RE&EE is an effective job creation mechanism, generating more than 2.5 times as many jobs per revenue as the oil and gas sector The free report can be downloaded at: www.ases.org/greenjobs |
