Clean-energy jobs on rise in the state, nationally

Clean-energy jobs have grown nationally and in Virginia despite a lack of sustained encouragement from government, a new report says.

The report, "The Clean Energy Economy," was released yesterday by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan and nonprofit educational group.

Clean-energy jobs involve making environ mentally friendly products, increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and conserving water.

The jobs vary from construction workers to engineers and lawyers, with salaries ranging from $21,000 to more than $100,000 a year.

"This sector is poised for explosive growth," said Lori Grange, a Pew executive, in a telephone news conference yesterday.

Clean-energy jobs are important because they contribute to economic growth while not hurting the environment, the report said.

In 2007, the last year for which data were available, more than 68,200 businesses across the country accounted for about 770,000 clean-energy jobs, the report said.

Those 770,000 jobs represented about one-half percent of all jobs in the U.S. But the clean jobs grew nearly 2½ times faster than overall jobs from 1998 to 2007, the report said.

In Virginia, 1,446 clean-energy businesses accounted for 16,907 jobs in 2007, the report said. The average number per state was 15,106.

Investors pumped nearly $71 million in venture capital into clean-energy businesses in Virginia in 2006-2008, the report said.

As an example of a Virginia clean-energy company, the report cited H2Gen Innovations Inc. of Alexandria, which makes hydrogen generators.

L. Preston Bryant Jr., Virginia's secretary of natural resources, said green jobs are "recognized as a fast-growing employment sector. In Virginia we have certainly made it a focus."

Aided by about $180 million in federal stimulus money, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's administration is working to create jobs in areas including energy efficiency and weatherization, Bryant said.

Pew officials said federal and state governments could do more to encourage the growth of clean jobs.

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .