by Shane Henson — January 8, 2014—Ecotech Institute, a school dedicated to educating students solely in clean energy fields such as solar, wind and renewable energy, recently released its Clean Jobs Index for the third quarter of 2013.
The index, which compares states’ use and development of clean energy, found more than one million job postings in the clean energy sector from July 1, 2013 through September 30, 2013. This shows a 54 percent increase in needed clean energy employees, evidence that the sector is rapidly growing and in need of experts. The Clean Jobs Index defines a clean tech job as one where workers make their business more environmentally friendly, use fewer natural resources, or produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment, says Ecotech Institute.
The index also looks at various sustainability factors such as alternative fueling stations, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects, and total energy consumption in all 50 states. To complement the increase in these clean energy job opportunities, 1,543 new alternative fueling stations opened across the United States since the second quarter 2013, the index shows. Between the months of July and September, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee had the most alternative fueling stations per capita.
Also, according to the index, the most energy-efficient states (in alphabetical order) were California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The states with the most incentives for sustainability and renewables (in alphabetical order) were California, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Rhode Island added more incentives and rebates than any other state in the third quarter of 2013, adds Ecotech Institute.
“This data shows a long-awaited boom in the clean tech industry, from the increases in alternative fueling options to a massive amount of clean job opportunities,” said Kyle Crider, Ecotech Institute’s program chair and manager of environmental operations. “States now offer more sustainability and renewable incentives than we’ve ever seen before, which proves that they’re taking the power of the industry seriously. In the state of the current economy, over one million job opportunities is a truly incredible statistic. We’re proud that Ecotech is the only higher education institution out there devoted entirely to helping students become successful professionals in this rapidly expanding sector.”
