Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

This fact sheet by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) surveys employment data for the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors globally and within the United States. It compiles data from various sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), noting that inconsistent research methodologies and job definitions make direct comparisons difficult.

• The Ecotech Institute reported a 13 percent increase in clean job openings between 2013 and 2014, rising from 3.6 million to 3.8 million. For the first three months of 2015, the institute estimated there were 1.2 million clean job openings.
• In the United States, the green building sector was expected to support over 2.3 million jobs in 2015, with projections increasing to more than 3.3 million jobs by 2018, which would represent one-third of all U.S. construction jobs.
• Renewable energy employment in the United States reached 724,000 jobs in 2014, representing a 16 percent increase from the previous year, according to IRENA (excluding large-scale hydropower).
• The solar energy industry in the U.S. provided 173,807 direct jobs as of November 2014, a 21.8 percent increase from November 2013. When including indirect and induced impacts, total employment in the sector exceeded 705,000 jobs.
• The wind energy industry in the United States provided 73,000 full-time equivalent jobs by the end of 2014, with 23,000 of those added during that year. Texas is the leading state for wind energy employment, with over 17,000 people.
• Globally, IRENA estimated 7.7 million direct and indirect jobs in the renewable energy sector in 2014. Solar PV was the largest employer with roughly 2.5 million jobs, followed by liquid biofuels (1.8 million) and wind power (approximately one million).
• China leads the world in renewable energy employment with approximately 3.4 million direct and indirect jobs, leading in eight of the nine sectors covered by IRENA. In 2014, its largest sectors were solar PV (1.6 million jobs), solar heating/cooling (600,000 jobs), and wind power (502,400 jobs).
• Other top global employers in renewable energy include Brazil (934,000 jobs, leading in liquid biofuels with 845,000), India (437,000 jobs, leading in solar PV with 125,000), and Germany (371,000 jobs, leading the EU).

APA

Hettipola, S. (2015). Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2015

Chicago

Hettipola, Sharmen. Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2015. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2015.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hettipola |first1=Sharmen |title=Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=6 November 2015 |url=https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2015 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hettipola2015jobs, author = {Hettipola, Sharmen}, title = {{Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2015}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }