FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACTS: Patrick Mitchell, 703-276-3266, [email protected]; Susan Nedell, 303-250-4559, [email protected].
DENVER (September 22, 2017) – More than 66,000 people work in Colorado’s clean energy economy, according to the new Clean Jobs Colorado report unveiled today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) and Golden-based Energy Efficiency Business Coalition.
The report – available here and at www.e2.org/cleanjobsco – comes a few weeks after an announcement by Xcel Energy that that the utility plans to retire a pair of coal-fired power plants in Pueblo, continuing a statewide and national trend of increasing renewable energy generation.
The report shows a more than 6 percent growth rate in clean energy jobs from a year earlier, far outpacing the state’s overall job growth rate. Clean energy jobs continue to outnumber fossil fuel jobs in the state. The dominant sector in clean energy remains energy efficiency with about 42,000 jobs.
“Our wind tower workers in Pueblo know as well as anyone in the country that more clean energy means more jobs and more economic growth,” said Tony Knopp, vice president at Vestas Towers in Pueblo. “And so do folks in communities across our state, as businesses scale up meet to Colorado consumers’ growing demand for clean, renewable energy.”
“Energy efficiency is a Colorado success story because it has created thousands of jobs and added more than a billion dollars in economic revenue to the state,” said Lauren Poole, executive director of the Energy Efficiency Business Coalition, which represents more than 100 energy efficiency product and services companies in Colorado. “When a home or commercial building is upgraded with energy efficient products, it requires a team of energy services professionals that range from contractors to energy auditors to engineers and commercial energy service companies. These are jobs that can’t be outsourced!”
“Solar energy continues to shine as a job-creator in Colorado,’’ said Rebecca Cantwell, executive director of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. “These jobs provide good wages and economic development in all corners of our state. Colorado lawmakers need to support policies that continue to grow solar energy at all scales – from rooftop systems to big solar farms.”
The report highlights several state and federal policies important to continued clean energy job growth, including:
- Approval by the Public Utilities Commission of an update to Xcel’s “Electric Resource Plan” proposed earlier this month;
- Ensuring that House Bill 1227, which was passed into law in 2017, increases Colorado’s energy savings goals over time to at least 2 percent of utility sales annually;
- Allowing investor-owned utilities (Xcel and Black Hills) to recover electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure costs in their rates by lifting restrictions on the most likely developers of such projects; and
- Blocking extreme, innovation-crushing cuts to the U.S. Department of Energy which could halt programs like groundbreaking work being done at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.
The report shows there are clean energy jobs in every state legislative and congressional district in Colorado, offering more evidence that clean energy is a bipartisan issue that benefits both urban and rural Coloradans. The report also ranks the top 10 counties and top 5 metro areas for clean energy jobs:
The report includes a case study of a dairy farm whose energy efficiency upgrades helped put people to work in Colorado’s clean energy industry while also saving the operation money. E2 is also continuing to collect and publish stories about clean energy in Colorado at www.e2.org/cleanjobsco.
“Colorado continues to grow as a clean energy state,” said E2 Rocky Mountains advocate Susan Nedell. “That’s good for our economy and our environment – and with the right policies in place, we can keep this impressive growth going.”
The report was released today at a public launch event at the El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo featuring business leaders and government officials from across the state.
Social media graphics are available here: overall, growth rate, yearly data and energy efficiency.
To speak with E2 members and other business leaders in Colorado, please contact Patrick Mitchell at 703-276-3266 or [email protected].
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Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment. Our members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and manage more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. For more information, see www.e2.org or follow us on Twitter at @e2org.
The Energy Efficiency Business Coalition (EEBC) is a member-funded coalition of businesses that provide energy efficient products and services to create healthier homes and businesses by using cost-effective and sustainable methods to reduce energy, water, and waste in buildings. EEBC works with utilities, municipalities, the Public Utility Commission, and the legislature to promote policies and programs that expand the energy efficiency market in Colorado. Our members include energy efficiency contractors (heating and cooling equipment, insulation, LED lighting, window, smart thermostat and occupancy sensors, and other technologies), manufacturers of energy efficiency products and equipment, demand-side management implementation and evaluation experts, demand response companies, engineering and architecture firms, data analytic firms, financing experts, commercial energy service companies, workforce training companies, and home energy auditors. EEBC is managed by a board of directors made up of representatives from member companies, staff, and contract attorneys. As a responsible organization, EEBC has anti-trust, conflict of interest, and client confidentiality protection policies.