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The numbers aren’t dizzyingly high. But the conservative methodology used for a recent study counting the number of environmentally friendly jobs makes the study’s conclusions all the more striking. State leaders who review a recent Pew report – as all should – will discover that growth in the clean-energy sector provides Hoosiers with one reason to celebrate.
The Pew Charitable Trust’s study, “The Clean Energy Economy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America,” found that while overall jobs declined 1 percent between 1997 and 2007, jobs in clean energy grew 17.9 percent. Indiana was one of seven states, as well as the District of Columbia, where the number of jobs fell overall, but the number of jobs in clean energy increased.
“The study shows that the clean-energy economy is not something unique to states like Massachusetts, California or Oregon,” said Kil Huh, project director for research at Pew Charitable Trust. “Indiana has a significant number of jobs in that sector, and Indiana has some strengths it can build on.”
Huh points specifically to Indiana’s recent advancements in wind power. According to the American Wind Energy Association, Indiana has had the fastest growth in wind power in America in 2008. And the wind industry has become a leader in generating patents and attracting capital investments. Indiana has attracted $26 million in venture capital in the past three years.
“One out of 10 jobs were in the clean-energy economy,” he said. And wind had a lot to do with that growth.”
It’s very easy – and fashionable – to slap the word “green” on nearly everything and call it a day. But merely calling something green does not automatically make it environmentally friendly. Instead of using the term “green jobs,” the study refers to clean-energy-economy jobs. The study also uses a stringent definition for which jobs qualify and only counted those jobs that could be verified.
Huh said Pew researchers reviewed about 50 studies on green jobs and then verified that each of the jobs they were including was directly related to clean or renewable energy.
Companies that actively engaged in clean-energy production, increasing energy efficiency, conserving natural resources or reducing pollution were counted. Companies that served as direct suppliers to those companies and used environmentally friendly production methods also were counted.
But the study doesn’t include companies that simply bought green products or services. The study also leaves out a number of jobs that are included in other studies, such as those related to nuclear power. The question of storing nuclear waste safely makes the overall greenness of nuclear energy open to debate.
“We tried to be precise about what we were counting,” Huh said. “It’s probably a conservative count, but we were trying to be as precise as possible.”
The study makes a strong case for Indiana’s investment in clean and renewable energy. And the methodology behind the study should make it more compelling for those in doubt about the wisdom of the state’s investing in clean energy.
