CA, GA, NY, and TX led with most announcements U.S. businesses announced funding and plans for at least 26 clean energy projects, expansions, and renewed production across at least 16 states in January, according to a new monthly review from the national nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs). Developments range from new electric vehicle (EV) […]
The Economic Benefits of Advancing Clean Building Policies in the Windy CityChicago is home to more than 12,000 workers engaged in work directly related to making Chicago’s building sector cleaner and more efficient. This workforce includes workers who replace old insulation in the attics of single-family homes, fit new pipes for geothermal heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings, and install electric stoves and air source heat pumps in homes and buildings.
To better understand how electrifying and making Chicago’s buildings more energy efficient would impact the city’s labor market, E2 took a deeper dive into Chicago’s overall clean buildings employment data.
| Professional Services | 5,769 |
| Construction | 4,459 |
| Manufacturing | 1,726 |
| Wholesale Trade | 664 |
| Other Services | 104 |
| Total | 12,722 |
Policies that support electrifying and making Chicago’s buildings more energy efficient can create job opportunities and result in substantial economic and climate benefits for Chicago residents. With the Inflation Reduction Act incentives creating an unprecedented opportunity for cities, states, and customers to advance clean energy and building retrofits, the time to act is now. The City of Chicago must pass the following by early 2023:
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This analysis of the United States Energy and Employment Report (USEER) was produced by BW Research for E2. The USEER survey includes workers who spend a plurality of their time working to improve the energy efficiency of a building, factory, residence, etc., without regard to the type of energy source used—including those workers who may still may still be installing high-efficiency gas technologies. As buildings transition from gas to all-electric these jobs will transition with them, as the skills required for both technologies are highly transferable.
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A STRONGER U.S. ENERGY EFFICIENCY WORKFORCENearly 2.2 million Americans now work in energy efficiency —more than any other sector of the U.S. energy industry, including oil, gas and coal (but not motor vehicles) — according to the newest Energy Efficiency Jobs in America from E4TheFuture and E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs).
Despite growing more slowly than the energy industry overall, energy efficiency businesses added nearly 60,000 jobs in 2021 – accounting for almost half of the 132,000 jobs the overall sector added in 2021. California and Texas claimed the most total energy efficiency jobs again with nearly 450,000 jobs between the two states alone, while Nevada (7 percent), New Mexico (7 percent), Oklahoma (5.3 percent), New Jersey (5.2 percent), and Colorado (5 percent) led the country in year-over-year job growth.
Among the key local findings are that nearly 290,000 Americans living in rural areas work in energy efficiency with more than 40 percent of all workers living outside of America’s top 50 metro areas.
Energy efficiency saves money, reduces emissions, improves air quality and public health, and makes us more energy independent—while also tackling climate change and creating jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) included historic investments aimed at advancing energy efficiency across the country. The effective implementation of the energy efficiency provisions in IRA and IIJA, and the continued funding for government-led energy efficiency activities, are both crucial to realizing the benefits of this critical energy source
To download the national summary, click here or the report cover above.
For all 51 individual factsheets, visit https://ee.e4thefuture.org/ .
For questions on this report, methodology, reported job numbers, or requests for specific additional data, email E2 Communications Director Michael Timberlake ([email protected]). An FAQ for the report, including answers to questions on methodology, is available here.
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SUMMARYThe Garden State is home to nearly 33,000 people who are employed in work directly related to constructing high-performance, climate-friendly, decarbonized buildings capable of running on 100% clean power. The work they engage in includes activities like installing electric induction stoves in kitchens in Hoboken, replacing old insulation in drafty attics of single-family homes in Hunterdon County, or fitting new pipes for geothermal heating and cooling systems in offices in industrial parks along the Jersey Shore.
To better understand how decarbonizing New Jersey’s buildings is impacting the state’s labor market, E2 took a deeper dive into the state’s overall building decarbonization employment data.
By looking at five employment areas — technology; value chain; residential and commercial sector employment; electrification, building envelope and other energy efficiency; and specific occupational analysis —we found that:
| Technology | New Jersey Jobs |
| Energy Star & Efficient Lighting | 7,167 |
| High Efficiency HVAC & Renewable H&C | 6,594 |
| Traditional HVAC | 10,181 |
| Other | 6,505 |
| Advanced Materials & Insulation | 2,433 |
| Total | 32,880 |
The wage data shows how significant of an opportunity building decarbonization represents to workers in New Jersey and to the overall economy. In five of the most common building decarbonization occupations, average annual wages in New Jersey range from $56,700 to $75,800.
| Occupation | New Jersey Avg Annual Wage | National Avg. Annual Wage | Education & Training: Typical Entry-Level Education | Education & Training: Typical On-the-Job Training |
| Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers |
$63,500 | $54,690 | High School diploma or equivalent | 2-year degree or certificate; long-term on-the-job training |
| Electricians | $75,100 | $63,310 | High School diploma or equivalent | Apprenticeship; long-term training |
| Construction Laborers | $58,700 | $44,130 | High School diploma or equivalent | Short-term on-the-job-training |
| Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall |
$56,700 | $44,810 | High School diploma or equivalent | Short-term on-the-job-training |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters |
$75,800 | $62,250 | Four-year degree | Apprenticeship; short-term on-the-job-training |
The majority of workers within each occupation in the state are white, followed by Black and Asian. Hispanic or Latino workers make up the majority of insulation workers and construction laborers in New Jersey and are approximately one-fifth of the overall workforce in the state.
| Occupation | AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKAN NATIVE | ASIAN | BLACK | NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDER | WHITE* | TWO OR MORE RACES | HISPANIC OR LATINO** | NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO |
| Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers |
0.2% | 1.8% | 13.9% | 0.1% | 81.8% | 2.4% | 30.7% | 69.3% |
| Electricians | 0.1% | 3.7% | 11.8% | 0.0% | 82.4% | 1.9% | 26.2% | 73.8% |
| Construction Laborers | 0.6% | 4.1% | 13.0% | 0.0% | 80.0% | 2.3% | 51.3% | 48.7% |
| Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall |
0.6% | 2.2% | 14.6% | 0.0% | 79.8% | 2.8% | 52.9% | 47.1% |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters |
0.4% | 2.2% | 12.0% | 0.0% | 82.5% | 2.8% | 31.1% | 68.9% |
| NJ Clean Energy Statewide | 0.2% | 10.7% | 14.5% | 0.1% | 72.2% | 2.3% | 20.3% | 79.7% |
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This is the first Building Opportunity: New Jersey 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 it was abandoned in 2017.
View Report »Clean jobs in North Carolina grew by over 4 percent in 2021, more than double the growth rate of the state’s total workforce for the year. That growth also demonstrates the clean energy economy’s strong recovery from the COVID-19 economic downturn and sets North Carolina up for even more clean energy job opportunities in the years to come — especially with the right policies in place.
North Carolina has long been a regional leader in clean energy jobs. That distinction is due in large part to its early adoption of smart clean energy policies like the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, which passed the North Carolina General Assembly with bipartisan support back in 2007.
But as other states in the Southeast and throughout the country continue to pass policies that will drive growth in their clean energy economies, North Carolina must build on past successes to maintain its leadership status. The bipartisan passage of the Energy Solutions Act (HB 951) in 2021 was a huge step in the right direction, kicking off much-needed utility reform and establishing ambitious carbon pollution reduction targets for the power sector—70 percent by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
Now, North Carolina’s policymakers need to implement HB 951 as intended and pass additional policies that send a clear, long-term signal that the state is committed to a clean energy future. In turn, that will empower clean energy companies in North Carolina to continue to invest and grow jobs in the state.
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.