I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Saving the planet and growing the economy are not mutually exclusive. The latest case in point is Massachusetts, whose clean energy economy grew 11.2 percent in the past year, employing a total of 71,523 people at 4,995 clean energy businesses.
As Gov. Deval Patrick, currently in his second term, put it: “I have said from the beginning of this administration that, if we get clean energy right, the world will be our customer… Investing in our nation-leading clean energy agenda is the right thing to do for our environment, our energy independence, our public health and our economic vitality. We owe it to our future to keep this momentum going strong.”
The report, released by Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) in mid-August, found that the range of clean energy businesses in the state provide services ranging from construction and manufacturing to research and development. And the outlook for these businesses looks good – the employers surveyed were “optimistic about the coming year and expect to hire more workers in 2013.”
The report defined a clean energy business as “an employer engaged in whole or in part in providing goods and services related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative transportation, and carbon management. Clean energy workers are defined as spending at least a portion of their time supporting the clean energy aspects of their businesses.”
So will this report get the attention of our presidential candidates? Will they start seeing clean technology as a potential source of huge economic growth? Or will they continue to treat it like a niche interest and a punch line?
Main photo credit: Shutterstock