Pew: Florida

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released a study , sayinhg Florida’s clean energy economy grew 7.9 percen t between 1998 and 2007, and the statr was among the top 10 for greebn jobsin America. “The numbers are impressive,” U.S. Rep. Kathy D-Tampa Bay, said during a teleconference Monday morning. “This is goinvg to be the way we rebuild our economy in the statdof Florida.” John DiBella, Director of Business Alliances for in Fort Lauderdale, is amonvg those growing green jobs in South DiBella said he has six employeesa now and plans to triplse that number this year.
DiBella is pioneeringb a new technology that uses centrifugal force to separate water from Accordingto him, it is “za more efficient and cost-effective of purifying wastewater. “It’s quite vast, the demand that’a coming to us, and we’re excited abourt the future,” DiBella said. His customers include manufacturers, oil wastewater treatment facilities andfarm interests. Lori interim deputy director of the Pew Center onthe States, said Floridaz only lags significantly behind other states on certainh public policy questions. For example, she pointed to the state’sz failure to embrace Gov.
Charlie Crist’ proposed renewable energy portfolio standard, which would require a certain portio n of state energy to be producer from renewable resources such assolar power. Twenty-ninew other states already have such a standar din place. Grange said the stat also has yet to participate in a regional carbon and climate change although it is developing its owncarbo cap-and-trade program. Victor Eyal, president of in Altamontd Springs, said his solar technolog y distribution company has 40 employeews at its headquarters and hundreds of employees in its He said Florida has good incentivesin place, but needsw to fund them more.
He pointed to recent shortages in funding forthe state’s solar rebate programs. DiBella said incentives for greenb technology mustbe consistent. “What’s important is to keep the flow of moniesx andincentives coming, so that young companies can develoo new technologies that could be the next leaders in the DiBella said. • Jobs (2007): 31,122 Businesses (2007): 3,831 • Venture capital funds $116,980,006 The study found that the Sunshine State was among the top 10 for jobsin America’a clean energy in 2007, with more than and it attracted nearly $117 million in venture capital in the past threer years, half of which has supporter clean energy generation.
Grange said the job growtg is likely to have suffered since 2007 due to the but the federal stimulus program and continued private investmenty is limiting job losses in thegreen Nationwide, jobs in the cleamn energy economy grew by 9.1 while total jobs grew by just 3.7 percent betweeh 1998 and 2007, according to the titled “The Clean Energg Economy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America.
” Pew’a definition of green jobs includes plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine marketing consultants, teachers and many others with annual incomex ranging from $21,000 to