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Report: Clean energy jobs on the rise
Report: Clean energy jobs on the rise
Clean energy jobs increased at a rate of 3.4 percent in New York in 2016, double the job growth rate of all industries across the state.
The figure comes from the “2017 New York Clean Energy Industry Report,” recently published by the NYS Energy and Research Development Authority.
Among other findings was that the Finger Lakes Region was second highest in the state for its number of green energy jobs per capita—16.2 per 1,000 workers. Only Long Island, home of the Clean Energy Business Incubator, had a higher rate, which was 20.8 jobs per 1,000 workers.
The state total of 146,000 clean energy jobs was expected to rise more precipitously this year, bringing the rate to 7 percent in 2017, the report noted.
Prompted by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s clean energy policies, said Alicia Barton, president and CEO of NYSERDA, “clean energy companies throughout New York are creating thousands of jobs and growing our economy faster than ever before.”
Barton added, “New York is proving that leading in the fight on climate change is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create an entirely new home-grown industry.”
Approximately 75 percent of the clean-energy jobs were in energy efficiency areas, such as installation of more efficient lighting, Energy Star-rated appliances and renewable heating and cooling, the report said. Another 15 percent was in the creation of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and geo-thermal, representing the second-largest segment of clean-energy jobs.
The report concluded that the greatest growth areas within clean energy lie in research, innovation and new technology while there are still significant opportunities in alternative transportation and modernizing the power grid.
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