"There Are Now Twice as Many Solar Jobs as Coal Jobs"

"Back in 2006, SolarCity was a small Bay Area solar energy startup with a handful of employees. Before long, according to CEO Lyndon Rive, the company was doubling in size every year to keep up with voracious demand for rooftop solar systems. Today, the company has over 9,000 employees spread across 65 offices nationwide; they’re are busy every day designing, selling, and installing solar systems.

Similar stories are playing out at solar companies across the country. The U.S. solar boom is taking off at breathtaking speed – even though solar is still a tiny slice of the American energy pie, it has by far the fastest growth of any energy source, and it’s adding jobs apace. As of November 2014, the U.S. solar industry employed 173,807 people, up 21.8 percent from a year before, according to a new survey by the Solar Foundation, a nonprofit research outfit.

That’s 10 times faster than job growth in the overall U.S. economy, which was just 2 percent over the same time period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Solar employment is also outpacing job growth in the fossil fuel industry. Solar jobs now outnumber coal mining jobs 2-to-1 and are quickly catching up to jobs in oil and gas extraction, as well."

Tim McDonnell reports for Climate Desk January 15, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Every 2½ Minutes, A New Solar Power System Is Connected (US)" (Clean Technica)

"In U.S., There Are Twice as Many Solar Workers as Coal Miners" (Fortune)

"The Solar Industry Created More Jobs In 2014 Than Oil And Gas Extraction" (Climate Progress)