Midwest’s clean energy economy positioned for even greater growth with Inflation Reduction Act investments Chicago, IL – Clean energy businesses in the Midwest added more than 36,400 workers in 2021, now employing 714,323 Midwesterners across the region. That’s according to a new analysis of employment data released today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2 […]
A Return to Rapid Growth, with Clean Vehicle Jobs Driving AheadClean energy companies employed more than 714,000 Midwesterners at the end of 2021, over a 5 percent increase from 2020 and a return to growth after an unprecedented decline in 2020. Approximately 55 percent of the clean energy jobs lost during the COVID-19 economic downturn were regained. In 2021, clean energy jobs grew almost 40 percent faster than the overall economy. More Midwesterners worked in clean energy than the number of lawyers, accountants and auditors, web developers, and real estate agents in the region combined.
The biggest sector of the Midwest clean energy industry is energy efficiency, over 67 percent of the region’s clean energy workforce. The 479,626 energy efficiency workers in the Midwest manufacture ENERGY STAR-rated appliances, install efficient lighting, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and install advanced building materials in homes and commercial buildings.
As more automakers and their suppliers continued to shift to electric vehicles, the advanced transportation sector saw an increase of 24 percent in the Midwest.
The sector added 21,939 new jobs for a total of 112,591 workers. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric-vehicle sector jo
The complete report along with interactive breakdowns for all states is available at this link.
“You did this,” the president told me as I thanked him on behalf of E2 for creating and signing into law the most important climate and clean energy policy in history. “No, I really mean it,” President Biden said, still squeezing my hand in a firm shake after a long day of hand shaking. “This only […]
Clean energy and clean transportation jobs grew by more than 5 percent in 2021, with electric vehicle manufacturing jobs leading the way and renewable energy regaining most of the jobs lost in the COVID-19 economic downturn.
More than 3.2 million Americans were employed in renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage and grid modernization and clean fuels at the end of 2021, according to an E2 analysis of U.S. Department of Energy jobs data.
Approximately 156,000 jobs were added across all clean energy and clean vehicle subsectors in 2021—more than half of all jobs added to the total energy sector. Clean energy and clean transportation now employs more than 40 percent of all energy workers in America. Two years after the COVID-19 economic downturn wiped out more than 600,000 clean energy jobs, nearly 75 percent of those jobs were regained.
Despite the strong job growth in 2021, uncertainty around federal policy cast a pall over the industry and job growth at the beginning of 2022. New clean energy project installations declined by 55 percent in the second quarter of 2022 alone, according to the American Clean Power Association, putting future job growth at risk.
However, with promising climate and clean energy investments and tax credits moving again in Congress in the summer, and the Biden administration stepping up its efforts to expand clean energy and cut carbon pollution, the second half of 2022 was looking brighter for continued strong growth in clean energy jobs.
| Total Clean Energy | 3,201,602 |
| Renewable Energy | 515,248 |
| Grid & Storage | 143,052 |
| Energy Efficiency | 2,164,914 |
| Clean Fuels | 39,096 |
| Clean Vehicles | 339,291 |
This is the seventh annual Clean Jobs America report produced by E2 based on analysis of the USEER, which was first released by the DOE in 2016. E2 was an original proponent of the DOE producing the USEER, and was a partner on the reports produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) after the Trump administration abandoned it in 2017.
If you are looking for additional insight into E2’s Clean Jobs America 2022 or our other clean energy employment reports, visit e2.org/reports. A FAQ is also available here to answer any questions.
Clean Jobs America 2022 is the 7th national clean energy jobs report from E2. Previous reports can be accessed in the below links.
Climate change is a serious and growing threat to the U.S. economy, and North Carolina is no exception. Climate-related disasters inflicted nearly $150 billion in damage to the national economy last year, including up to $1 billion in damage in North Carolina alone. And those figures are just one piece of the puzzle, with rising […]
New York State is home to more than 120,000 workers engaged in work directly related to decarbonizing and electrifying buildings across the state. This includes work like installing electric induction stoves in apartment buildings on Staten Island, replacing old insulation in the attics of single-family homes in Plattsburgh and fitting new pipes for geothermal heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings in Rochester.
To better understand how decarbonizing and electrifying New York’s buildings would impact the state’s labor market, E2 took a deeper dive into the state’s overall building decarbonization and electrification employment data.
By looking at five employment areas — technology; value chain; residential and commercial energy efficiency; electrification, building envelope and other energy efficiency; and a specific occupational analysis — we found that:
| Energy Star | 36,005 |
| High Efficiency HVAC & Renewable H&C | 35,315 |
| Traditional HVAC | 32,520 |
| Other | 8,993 |
| Advanced Materials & Insulation | 8,128 |
| Total | 120,961 |
While 120,000 workers represent a sizable segment of New York State’s current overall labor force, the number of people who work on building decarbonization and electrification is expected to dramatically increase in the coming decades. By 2050, over 400,000 New Yorkers could be expected to work in building decarbonization and electrification — nearly four times as many as today.
Power sector policies have helped put New York at the center of the nation’s rapidly growing clean energy industry. In 2019 the state enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which sets targets and timelines for economy-wide emissions reductions, requires at least 35 percent of climate action benefits directly impact environmental justice and disadvantaged communities, and establishes the New York Climate Action Council (CAC) to oversee the efforts required to meet these nation-leading climate and equity commitments.
The state is already on track to meet CLCPA goals of sourcing 70 percent of its electricity supply from renewable energy by 2030, and making it 100 percent emissions-free by 2040. With buildings now representing a significant portion of economy-wide emissions, additional policies that could help equitably accelerate this shift include: better building codes; standards that help make appliances and other equipment found in residences and commercial buildings more efficient; statewide legislation that helps modernize new buildings; facilitating more disclosure of how buildings consume energy; eliminating fossil fuel subsidies while aligning incentives with state and local climate goals; and scaling up green, affordable housing.
Credit: NYSERDA.
Download the complete report at at this link.
This is the first Building Opportunity: New York report produced by E2 based on analysis of the USEER, which was first released by the DOE in 2016. E2 was an original proponent of the DOE producing the USEER and was a partner on the reports produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) after the Trump administration abandoned it in 2017.
View Report »“The strong policy leadership from Sacramento over the past 20 years has not only driven strong job growth but has helped California develop into a global hub of clean vehicle innovation and development,” said Andy Wunder, Western states advocate for E2, a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors and professionals.
“President Biden’s executive order is the right thing to do and solidifies our support for the people of Ukraine” said Mr Keefe. “But it’s just a first step to lessen our dependence on oil and the foreign governments that control it. The best way we can reduce our dependence on oil and gas and the […]
The state must actively pursue development of offshore wind projects to capture the maximum economic opportunity RALEIGH, N.C. – A new analysis shows that constructing 2.8-gigawatts of offshore wind off North Carolina’s coast by 2030 will result in a net economic benefit of up to $4.6 billion for the state’s economy. The North Carolina Offshore Wind […]
SUMMARYOver the next decade offshore wind is expected to play a significant role in decarbonizing the U.S. electric sector, and especially along the East Coast. When states are considering offshore wind goals, they will certainly evaluate the myriad of associated costs and benefits.
This analysis was developed to help decision makers quantify some of the economic development and environmental benefits associated with offshore wind. This analysis calculates the costs and benefits associated with a single 2.8-gigawatt (GW) offshore wind project off the coast of North Carolina in operation by 2030. Both a base scenario, assuming a standard amount of local manufacturing/supply chain content, and a high local content (or “high”) scenario, were developed.
The high scenario assumes 100% local content for both the blades and offshore substations of a single 2.8GW theoretical project. Content assumptions are based on findings from the March 2021 offshore wind supply chain study conducted on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, which indicates these components being most likely to locate production in-state. While not within the scope of this calculation, it is important to highlight the compounded value that new or expanded offshore wind supply chain capabilities located in North Carolina will create. In addition to providing economic benefit to the state through projects developed off the coast of North Carolina, offshore wind manufacturers will also supply components for projects along the Atlantic coast or potentially across the country or the globe — generating continued economic benefit to the state, absent the cost of generating electricity.
View and download the complete report at at this link.
View and download a one-page summary of the report’s key findings at this link.
Recently codified in state-level legislation, North Carolina has asserted the carbon-reduction goal of 70% by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century4 . To that end, the Governor’s administration, the North Carolina General Assembly, and Duke Energy have all endeavored to examine pathways to reliably and costeffectively decarbonize the state’s electric grid5,6,7,8. While offshore wind has occasionally been an element of these discussions, due to relative cost and nascency of the U.S. offshore wind industry, it hasn’t been evaluated as a primary tool for decarbonization.
Absent from any of the decarbonization modeling or stakeholder processes conducted in the state since 2018 is the consideration of the economic benefits that accompany offshore wind. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), now the American Clean Power Association (ACP), an estimated 30GW of offshore wind deployment in the U.S. by 2030 could generate as much as $57 billion in economic output9 . As such, the inclusion of these benefits is critical when understanding the full value of the technology.
This analysis determines both the costs and benefits of a theoretical 2.8-gigawatt (GW) offshore wind project developed off the coast of North Carolina in operation by 2030 using industry-standard practices, data, and modeling tools. The costs and benefits are measured against one another to determine the net economic impact.