Texas a leader in creating jobs tied to clean energy, study says

Kirk Ladendorf
Austin American Statesman

The nation’s clean-energy economy is relatively small, but it’s growing rapidly, and Texas is one of the leading players, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Pew researchers counted 68,200 businesses and 770,000 jobs across the United States tied to clean energy as of 2007, according to the most recent data. Texas ranked second to California in both jobs and clean-energy businesses.

Those jobs amounted to one-half of 1 percent of the nation’s total, but Pew researchers said the clean-energy sector grew twice as fast as the overall economy during the past decade and is poised for explosive growth in the coming years because of a surge in private investment in the sector and in federal government spending.