SOLAR IN THE RED STATES

Solar energy is playing surprisingly well in conservative parts of the U.S.

Chris Mooney, February 13, 2015 (Washington Post)

“…There are now over 173,000 solar jobs in the United States…But here’s a perhaps less appreciated reality – solar is also catching on in a lot of states that we don’t traditionally think of as being liberal, do-gooder territory…That’s one upshot of [State Solar Jobs Census] from the Solar Foundation…[L]iberal California is the titan: It has 54,690 solar workers now (as of late 2014), or nearly one third of the national total…[but] solar is making inroads in a lot of other states, too, and the places where that’s happening are pretty politically diverse…The fairly conservative state of Arizona (#3 overall for solar jobs) now has 9,170 of solar jobs. Very conservative Texas (#6) has 6,965 of them — having seen a 68 percent job growth in just one year…[T] he swing state of Nevada (#7) now has 5,900 solar jobs, whereas just a year ago it only had 2,800. That’s a staggering 146 percent growth rate. And North Carolina (#8) has 5,600, having shot up 80 percent since last year…[T]hough not in the top 10, very conservative Georgia] now has 2,890 solar jobs and has seen a mind-boggling 261 percent increase in solar employment in just two years…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet