Unemployment may be rising in the United States, but green jobs continue to buck that trend. In particular, five cities are leading the green job phenomenon.
"Green job" is a relatively broad term; some employment areas which fall under the green job umbrella include conservation and pollution mitigation, clean energy, energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly production.
Not every state or city is sharing equally in the green job boom. So, here is a brief look at the five cities leading the way:
1. New York City - NYC has recently launched 127 initiatives for greening the city, including earmarking $1 billion for building energy retrofits.
2. San Francisco - The New York Times stated California had the most clean energy jobs in the U.S. in 2008. More finitely, California's Bay Area (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) as the number one metropolis for clean energy jobs in the United States. Between 1995 and 2008, employment in green jobs grew 36% in the Bay Area.
3. Boston/Cambridge - Boston is a very environmentally conscious city. It has had a climate protection plan in place since 2002. As a result, its third leading energy source is wind power, its new buildings have to be LEED certified, and almost all of its municipal vehicles are either electric or run on biofuel.
4. Detroit - Although Detroit seems like an odd choice considering Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate, new jobs are coming. The U.S. Department of Energy is funneling large amounts of federal grant money into factories in order to utilize the auto industry talent in Detroit in the development of next-generation vehicles. Hybrid and electric car manufacturers are even setting up shop in Detroit.
5. Portland - Oregon has the largest percentage of its workforce employed in green jobs (more than 1%) in the United States. Many of these jobs are located in Portland. Last year, Oregon was the number one performer in creating renewable energy jobs in the U.S.
Read the full story at the Huffington Post: The 5 Best Cities For Green Jobs
Image courtesy of Flickr
Nathanael Baker is the Managing Editor of EnergyBoom. He has researched and reported on the issues of renewable energy, sustainability, and climate change for over two years. He has provided research to the New York Times and The Economist, as well as being published on different media outlets including, The Energy Collective.
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