Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

The document provides a detailed breakdown of 'green jobs' in the US and internationally, contrasting clean energy employment with fossil fuel industry figures and detailing specific subsectors such as solar, wind, and energy efficiency.

• In the first quarter of 2016, the clean energy industry in the United States directly employed 3,384,834 people, while the fossil fuel industry directly employed 2,989,844 people.
• The U.S. energy efficiency industry directly employed 2,707,290 people in Q1 2016, with the appliance industry serving as the largest provider of these jobs at 1,400,511 positions. The sector was projected to grow by 9 to 11 percent in 2017.
• The U.S. solar energy industry experienced significant growth, with a 24.5 percent increase between November 2015 and November 2016, providing 260,077 jobs across all 50 states according to The Solar Foundation.
• Globally, there were an estimated 8,079,000 direct and indirect jobs in renewable energy at the end of 2015. Solar PV was the largest subsector with approximately 2,772,000 jobs, followed by liquid biofuels (1,678,000) and wind power (1,081,000).
• China is the global leader in renewable energy employment with roughly 3,523,000 direct and indirect jobs, leading in seven different sectors including solar PV (1,652,000 jobs) and large hydropower (over 442,000 jobs).
• Brazil holds the second highest number of renewable energy jobs worldwide (918,000) and is the global leader in liquid biofuel employment with approximately 821,000 jobs.

APA

Lopez, D. (2017). 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-2017

Chicago

Lopez, Daniel. Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2017. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2017.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lopez |first1=Daniel |title=Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=15 February 2017 |url=https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2017 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lopez2017jobs, author = {Lopez, Daniel}, title = {{Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-jobs-in-renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency-2017}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }