A new study concludes that five emerging clean-tech industry sectors offer the Pacific Northwest one of the best opportunities for sustained economic vitality and job growth. It also charts the course for private and public investment and leadership to capitalize on the opportunity.
‘Carbon-Free Prosperity 2025’ is produced by research and publishing firm Clean Edge and research and advocacy organization Climate Solutions. The study provides a look at emerging green industries that are projected to provide high-paying jobs and a vital new economic base for the region.
The study focuses on five clean energy sectors that provide the best opportunities for Oregon and Washington to build a leadership position in intellectual capital and job creation:
– solar PV manufacturing, which is projected to provide up to 22,560 new jobs in the region by 2025,
– wind power development, expected to reach up to 6,000 new jobs,
– green building design services, expected to create up to 16,834 new jobs,
– sustainable bioenergy, which could account for 10,419 new jobs, and
– smart-grid technologies, an industry that could create up to 7,000 new jobs.
The study find these industries have the potential to create more than 63,000 new jobs in the region by 2025 – a figure that matches the employment in Silicon Forest during its height as a chip manufacturing center. The growth of these clean-tech sectors would position the area as a leader in the dramatic global shift toward cleaner and more efficient forms of energy, transportation, and building systems that reduce pollution and reliance on volatile imported fossil fuels.
‘Clean energy is increasingly identified as the sector with the largest growth potential in the U.S. economy, and offers the best promise of meeting the twin challenges of economic and environmental decline,’ says Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director and co-author of the report. ‘This report is a case study for how the Pacific Northwest region can seize a leadership role in the clean-tech economy.’
The study is based on interviews with more than 50 industry, financial and policy experts in the Northwest.
For more information, visit cleanedge.com or climatesolutions.org.
SOURCE: Clean Edge Inc.
