Pew: Florida

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released a study , sayin g Florida’s clean energy economy grew 7.9 percen between 1998 and 2007, and the statr was among the top 10 for green jobsin “The numbers are impressive,” U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa Bay, said duringb a teleconferenceMonday morning. “This is going to be the way we rebuildx our economy in the stateof Florida.” John Director of Business Alliances for in Fort Lauderdale, is amongf those growing green jobs in South DiBella said he has six employees now and plans to triplew that number this year.
DiBella is pioneering a new technologyh that uses centrifugal force to separate water from Accordingto him, it is “a more efficient and cost-effectivde way” of purifying wastewater. “It’s quites vast, the demand that’s coming to us, and we’ree excited about the future,” DiBella said. His customers includes manufacturers, oil companies, wastewater treatmenf facilities andfarm interests. Lori Grange, interim deputy director of the Pew Centere onthe States, said Florida only lags significantlyg behind other states on certain publicf policy questions. For she pointed to the state’s failure to embrace Gov.
Charliw Crist’s proposed renewable energy portfolio standard, whic would require a certain portion of state energ y to be produced from renewable resourceas such assolar power. Twenty-nine other states already have such a standardrin place. Grange said the stated also has yet to participate in a regional carbo n and climatechange initiative, although it is developing its own carbon cap-and-tradd program. Victor Eyal, president of in Altamontre Springs, said his solar technology distributiom company has 40 employees at its headquarterzs and hundreds of employees in its He said Florida has good incentives in but needs to fundthem more.
He pointed to recenf shortages in funding forthe state’ws solar rebate programs. DiBella said incentives for gree technology mustbe “What’s important is to keep the flow of monies and incentivesw coming, so that young companies can develoop new technologies that could be the next leaders in the DiBella said. • Jobs 31,122 • Businesses (2007): 3,83 1 • Venture capital funds $116,980,006 The study found that the Sunshind State was among the top 10 for jobsin America’sx clean energy in 2007, with more than 30,000, and it attracteed nearly $117 million in venture capital in the past three years, half of which has supported clean energy Grange said the job growth is likelgy to have suffered since 2007 due to the but the federal stimulus program and continuexd private investment is limiting job losses in the greenn sector.
Nationwide, jobs in the cleabn energy economy grewby 9.1 percent, whil e total jobs grew by just 3.7 percenrt between 1998 and 2007, according to the titled “The Clean Energy Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investmentd Across America.” Pew’s definition of green jobs includes engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers and many others with annual incomez ranging from $21,000 to $111,000.