Following our recent post about the top green cities in the US, and in the spirit of that theme we were interested to see Florida in the press for the number of green jobs the state is creating.
According to business owners and a director from PEW Center on the States, Florida green business owners are creating new jobs, although consistent funding and policy support is needed.
Florida has also been noted by PEW Charitable Trusts for having its clean energy economy grow by 7.9% between 1998 and 2007 and is now within the top ten for green jobs – which is brilliant news for the state.
Lori Grange, Interim Deputy Director of PEWCenter on the states, feels that Florida is only behind other states because of public policy questions. In this she noted Florida's failure to succeed with Governor Charlie Crist's proposed renewable energy portfolio standard. For Florida to have embraced this, a proportion of the state's energy would have to be produced from renewable sources. And while this isn't happening in Florida, it's already happening in 29 other states.
Florida also hasn't become involved in regional carbon and climate change initiatives, but Grange pointed out that is it developing its own carbon cap and trade program. Florida was among one of the top 10 states for jobs in clean energy in 2007, and half of its $116,980,000 of venture capital funds over the last three years has gone toward supporting clean energy generation.
In the whole of the US, jobs in clean energy grew by 9.1%, while total jobs grew by only 3.7% - a fantastic comparison – at The Refinishing Touch we applaud all initiatives that boost green employment, create awareness and, of course, encourage sustainability.
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