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Green Energy Jobs Grow Like Gangbusters
State, Federal Policies, Incentives Help Fuel Expansion
BY NICK MCCORMACLooking for a new job opportunity in South Carolina? Go green.That, in essence, is the finding of a new Pew Charitable Trusts report on growth of clean-energy jobs across the nation. The report says South Carolina’s clean-energy economygrew 36.2 percent from 1998 to 2007.Compare that with the state’s overall rate of job growth — 2.2 percent during the same period — and it’s clear that the clean-energy economy in the Palmetto State hasexperienced rapid growth over the past decade, or what the report describes as “small butfast.”And it’s not just a South Carolina phenomenon.Over the same timeframe nationally, clean-energy jobs grew at a rate of 9.1 percentversus a 3.7 percent increase in the number of jobs overall. Expansion of the clean-energyeconomy surpassed job growth as a whole in 38 states and the District of Columbia.Pew defines a clean-energy economy as one that “generates jobs, businesses andinvestments while expanding clean-energy production, increasing energy efficiency,reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution, and conserving water and other natural resources.”The definition covers five categories: clean energy; energy efficiency; environmentallyfriendly production; conservation and pollution mitigation; and training and support.These categories comprise a broad range of jobs, from electricians who help install newenergy systems to workers who remove hazardous materials from industrial sites.In 2007 there were an estimated 11,255 jobs in South Carolina’s clean-energy economy,according to the report. Nearly 78 percent of those positions were in conservation and pollution mitigation, work such as managing water and other finite resources; lesseninggreenhouse gas emissions; and recycling materials like aluminum and plastic.Headquartered in Columbia, Argand Energy Solutions typifies the surge in the clean-energy sector even amid the recession. Argand designs, installs, finances and maintainssolar electricity and solar water-heating systems for residential and commercial buildingsin the Southeast.The Pew study is perhaps the first hard count of jobs, businesses and investments tied tothe nation’s efforts to be more eco-friendly. Because the clean-energy economy grew atsuch a large rate, the study concludes that such jobs are poised for even greater growthgiven consumer demand, more venture capital investments and state and federal policyreforms.One of those reforms will soon take effect in South Carolina. A bill recently signed by
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