Business & Tech

California Ranked #1 in the Country for Solar Jobs

Environment California's newly released data from The Solar Foundation reveals that California leads both Colorado and Arizona in hiring the most people to work in solar-related fields in the U.S.

The citizen-based environmental advocacy organization Environment California released a report Monday that revealed California has the most solar-related jobs in the country, with an estimated 25,000 people employed by more than 3,550 solar establishments.

The data comes from the non-profit The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce. (Click on the attached PDF to read the full report).

According to the report, California leads Colorado and Arizona as the largest employer in solar-related fields. Colorado employs 6,186 people in an estimated 1,020 solar establishments and Arizona has an estimated 4,786 people working in 980 solar establishments.

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In addition to the California findings, the report noted that nationwide, U.S. solar companies added jobs over the last 12 months at a pace much faster than the general economy, and noted that as of August 2011, the U.S. solar industry has employed an estimated 100,237 solar workers, up 6.8 percent since August 2010. In addition, the report projects that the solar industry will see rapid growth over the next year, increasing solar workers by almost 24 percent, or by approximately 24,000 jobs in 2012.

Environment California also released a list of more than 50 elected California officials who support Gov. Jerry Brown’s clean energy vision. Under the governor’s plan, California would build 12,000 megawatts of local, clean energy, which would be enough to cover a million solar roofs by 2020.

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“We applaud Governor Brown and the growing number of California leaders who are working to ensure that California continues to be a solar leader, accelerating the environmental and economic benefits of further growth in the industry,” Environment California activist Michelle Kinman said in a statement.

Beverly Hills is doing its part to increase the use of solar energy by at the City Hall complex to help power the . A city-owned building at 331 Foothill Road, which opened in the summer of 2010, was the in town with rooftop solar panels.

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