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Green energy jobs galoreColorado among top states in creating clean energy positionsPeter Marcus, DDN Staff WriterThursday, June 11, 2009 | |
Colorado eclipsed most of the rest of the nation in terms of creation of jobs related to the clean energy economy, according to a report released yesterday.
The Pew Charitable Trusts report stated that while clean energy jobs across the nation increased by a rate of 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007, the increased rate in Colorado was 18.2 percent over the same period of time.
In comparison, traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent nationally during the same time period, and in Colorado that rate was 8.2 percent, according to the report.
“Coloradans can be proud that our hard work has paid off — creating thousands of clean energy jobs and attracting more than $600 million in venture capital in the past three years — making us one of the top five states for clean energy investment,” said Gov. Bill Ritter in a prepared statement. “With those efforts we are creating new economic opportunities and business, and reducing emissions of the pollution that causes climate change.”
Colorado is one of only three states to be ahead of the national average for the number of jobs in the clean energy economy. Oregon and Tennessee are also up there with Colorado. The report stated that more than 17,000 jobs existed in 2007 in the clean energy field in Colorado, with an annual growth rate of 1.9 percent.
Blake Jones, chief executive of Boulder-based Namaste Solar, said the report does not come as a surprise to him, but added that unless public policy is crafted with growth of the clean energy economy in mind, all the work Colorado and the nation has done will be lost.
“I expect (green jobs) to decrease if we don’t take action at the state and local levels,” he said. “We will lose jobs and businesses unless we seize this opportunity.”
Jones, who has been spotlighted by both President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden for his efforts creating green jobs through his solar power business, suggests public policies that offer tax breaks to citizens looking to generate renewable energy in their homes, as well as incentives and breaks to businesses looking to start green businesses and create jobs in the process.
He said the state needs to develop a long-term outlook for what its new energy economy will look like in order to attract businesses like Denmark-based Vestas Wind, which is currently investing more than $1.5 billion in new wind power factories across Colorado, estimated to create around 2,500 jobs.
“The opportunity is here at our doorstep, but it remains to be seen if we’ll seize that opportunity,” said Jones.
Jim Raras, principal at Carbondale-based InPower Systems, a business also specializing in solar energy, agreed that public policy fuels growth of the clean energy economy.
“The increase of renewable energy rebates and rise in regional capacity has triggered growth in the renewable energy market,” he said. “The awareness throughout the industry has mirrored the rise in employment needed to execute the demand.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., attributed the spike in green jobs partly to a 2004 ballot question approved by voters requiring utility companies to get 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015.
Ritter took that standard to the next level in 2007 when he successfully pushed lawmakers to pass a more stringent standard, requiring utilities to get 20 percent of their power form renewable sources by 2020.
Udall said he is pushing for similar standards on the federal level.
“A federal Renewable Electricity Standard has the power to create hundreds of thousands of renewable energy jobs across the country, while reducing pollution and helping us end our dangerous addiction to foreign fossil fuels,” he said. “Without it, we may see that opportunity pass us by.”
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