Texas ranked second among states in "clean-energy economy" jobs in 2007 and fourth in patents over the past decade, says a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Clean-energy jobs in Texas, like other states, still amounted to a small part of total employment — only 0.47 percent of the state’s 11.7 million jobs in 2007. But "Texas' clean-energy economy is poised for incredible growth," Kil Huh, project director of the Pew Center on the States, said Wednesday.
If Texas were a country, it would rank sixth worldwide in annual wind-energy production. It also ranks high among states in clean-energy venture capital and patents, the study said, and has adopted financial incentives favorable to clean energy.
Texas still doesn’t participate in a regional "cap-and-trade" program designed to cut emissions, the study's authors noted.
But "despite being an oil economy, Texas is engaged in policies that are going to grow" the clean-energy economy, Phyllis Cuttino, director of the U.S. Global Warming Campaign, Pew Environment Group, said during a Wednesday news conference.
According to the study, Texas had:
55,646 clean-energy jobs in 2007, up 15.5 percent from 1998
4,802 clean-energy businesses in 2007, up from 4,247 in 1998
414 clean-energy patents between 1999 and 2008, behind No. 1 California's 1,401 patents and also trailing New York and Michigan.
To read the complete article, visit www.star-telegram.com.
Comments