More than 66,000 Pennsylvanians work in the clean energy industry at 5,900 companies and business establishments across all 67 counties, according to a comprehensive new analysis unveiled Thursday by the national nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and Philadelphia-based Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA).

The report – “Clean Jobs Pennsylvania,” available here – is based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information and new data from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as a survey completed by 400 businesses across Pennsylvania.

“Every day at our factory in Westmoreland County, we see how clean energy puts people to work,” said Matthew Maroon, vice president of project management at Pittsburgh-based battery manufacturer Aquion Energy. “For us, clean energy jobs are not jobs of the future – they're right here, right now.”

The report was released just days before the Pennsylvania Clean Jobs Forum, scheduled for July 20, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Duquesne University Power Center in Pittsburgh. More information on that event is here.

“What we’ve found is that clean energy has created tens of thousands of jobs all across Pennsylvania,” said Bob Keefe, E2’s executive director. “And if the Commonwealth’s lawmakers support commonsense policies to make clean energy and energy efficiency even more readily available to the public, we’ll see tens of thousands more of these good-paying jobs.”

The Clean Jobs Pennsylvania analysis was conducted for the groups by BW Research Partnership. It includes detailed jobs data down to the county, metropolitan area, congressional and state legislative district levels – making it the most comprehensive tally of clean energy jobs ever in Pennsylvania.

According to the report:

-- Energy efficiency is by far the state’s largest clean energy employer, with more than 53,000 Pennsylvanians working in areas such as high-efficiency lighting, Energy Star appliance manufacturing and high-efficiency HVAC services to reduce wasted energy in homes, schools and businesses.

-- More than 8,800 Pennsylvanians work in renewable energy, including about 5,200 who spend at least half their time working in solar and 1,500 who work in wind.

-- There are clean energy jobs in every county in Pennsylvania. In metro areas, the Philadelphia area has 22,000 residents working in clean energy, followed by Pittsburgh (13,000 jobs), Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton (3,400), Scranton--Wilkes-Barre (3,200) and Harrisburg-Carlisle (3,200).

To keep these jobs growing, state and federal lawmakers should continue to support policies driving the clean energy sector, according to KEEA and E2. These policies range from the international climate agreement reached in Paris and the Clean Power Plan, to state and regional clean energy goals in Pennsylvania like Act 129 and the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, both of which can be strengthened, the report notes.

A copy of the report is available online.

For more information, visit the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance  website or KEEA, contact executive director Matt Elliott at 267-519-5316 or send email to: melliott@keealliance.org.

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7/18/2016