Earth Protect Blog

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin of fierceenergy.com

According to research from Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), up to 37,409 jobs could be created from the more than 70 major clean energy projects launched across the U.S. in the second quarter of 2012 alone. Public transportation, electric vehicle manufacturing and power generation led the growth.

As part of the job creation mix, 12 wind generation project announcements should add approximately 2,300 jobs. In the first quarter of this 2012, 31 wind generation projects could potentially add more than 9,100 jobs.

One cannot ignore, however, the impact of the soon to expire Production Tax Credit (PTC).

"The good news is that despite the challenging economic and political environment, the clean energy industry is still creating badly needed American jobs all across the country," said Judith Albert, E2 Executive Director. "The bad news is that the threats to the wind industry because of uncertainty over the Production Tax Credit are very real, and are already taking its toll on job creation in that sector."

According to the research, the top 10 clean energy job states in the second quarter were:

• California (16 projects announced with 20,879 possible jobs)
• Florida (3 projects announced with 7,375 possible jobs)
• New York (3 projects announced with 1,408 possible jobs)
• Michigan (9 projects announced with 1,319 possible jobs)
• Colorado (2 projects announced with 1,100 possible jobs)
• Ohio (4 projects announced with 712 possible jobs)
• New Jersey (2 projects announced with 600 possible jobs)
• Illinois (4 projects announced with 542 possible jobs)
• Nebraska (1 project announced with 500 possible jobs)
• Mississippi (1 project announced with 426 possible jobs)

For more: see the report