CLEAN ENERGY JOBS IN COLORADO CLEAN ENERGY JOBS OPPORTUNITIES

							                          CLEAN ENERGY JOBS IN COLORADO

Clean energy already provides many thousands of Colorado workers
with good jobs during hard times. This fact sheet collects several
sources of information showing how accelerating the clean-energy
transition will benefit Colorado’s economy – and, conversely, the costs
and consequences of failing to act.

CLEAN ENERGY JOBS
Less Carbon, More Jobs:                                                       Less Carbon, More Jobs: This map
   This map1 tells the story of existing companies across Colorado            locates some of the hundreds of clean
                                                                              energy businesses in Colorado.
   that will get new customers and create jobs with a cap on carbon.2
The Clean Energy Economy:
   The clean energy industry in Colorado is booming (job growth of 18.2%), much faster than the
   rest of the economy. By 2007, 1,778 businesses had generated more than 17,000 Colorado jobs
   in the clean energy economy, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Venture capitalists are
   investing more than $622 million in Colorado’s clean energy businesses.3

                            Clean        Clean       Clean Job     Overall Job       Venture
                          Businesses     Jobs         Growth        Growth           Capital
                           (2007)       (2007)      (1998-2007)   (1998-2007)      (2006-2008)
             Colorado          1,778       17,008         18.2%            8.2%    $622,401,000


The Future of the Clean Energy Economy:
   University of Massachusetts researchers conclude that the American Clean Energy and Security
   Act, coupled with the clean energy provisions passed in the ARRA stimulus package that
   Congress passed in February 2009, will drive $150 billion of investment in clean energy
   nationwide. This investment will create more than 28,000 jobs for Colorado’s workers.4

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDUSTRY AND BUSINESS
Both the Department of Energy and McKinsey and Company have identified significant, untapped
opportunities for key industries in Colorado to prosper under a clean energy economy.

   •   Metal manufacturing companies can save $17.5 million.5
   •   The chemical sector6 and the cement industry7 can save money by capturing waste heat,
       swapping out inefficient motors, and switching fuel sources.
   •   The Department of Energy has identified 4,158 ways for small- and medium-sized industrial
       plants in Colorado to earn savings from efficiency, with an average payback of only 1.3
       years. Only 57% of these opportunities have been implemented.8
   •   Additional information on Colorado clean energy jobs is available from the National
       Wildlife Federation.9

COSTS OF INACTION
According to a June 2009 report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
inaction on global warming will significantly harm the Southwest. Global warming will cause
higher temperatures, more drought, more wildfires, and less snowpack. Water available from the
Colorado River and other aquifers will steeply decline, and water supplies will become increasingly
scarce.10

The University of Maryland has concluded that these effects have heavy economic consequences
for Colorado.11

      •     Shorter winters will erode Colorado’s $2 billion skiing and snowboarding industry, and
            cause losses of more than $375 million by 2017. The changes will also undermine
            Colorado’s $42 billion insurance, real estate, and leasing sector, which often relies on
            vacationers and homeowners buying homes near resorts.
      •     Colorado’s foresters—whose industry accounts for 63,000 jobs and $2 billion––will lose
            ground to increased pests and wildfires. Outbreaks like the 2002 Hayman fire, which cost
            $39 million, will only increase.
      •     Western trout will decline by as much as 64%, hurting the $1 billion hunting and angling
            industry.
      •     Rising temperatures will induce heat stress in Colorado’s diary cows, causing $28 million in
            annual industry losses.
      •     More frequent droughts would injure tourism and agriculture—a 2002 reservoir shortage
            cost Colorado’s citizens $1 billion dollars.

And the National Wildlife Federation shows how global warming will damage the 36,000 jobs
provided by Colorado’s hunting and angling industries.12

START THE CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY NOW
A nationwide cap on greenhouse gas emissions would jumpstart a new energy economy in Colorado
and accelerate the growth of good-paying, clean jobs. If we fail to act soon, the new markets for
clean energy will grow overseas instead.

           Colorado can’t afford to miss out on one of the largest new economic revolutions.
                                    www.edf.org/CleanEnergyJobs
1   Less Carbon, More Jobs: Mapping the Green Economy: Colorado. Environmental Defense Fund. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=34065&state=CO
2   Less Carbon, More Jobs: Why a Cap on Carbon? Environmental Defense Fund. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=36571
3   Susan Urahn, Joshua Reichert, et. al.: The Clean Energy Economy: Executive Summary. June 2009. The Pew Charitable Trusts. p. 8.
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Clean_Economy_Report_Web.pdf
4 Robert Pollin, James Heintz, and Heidi Garrett-Peltier: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Clean Energy. Department of Economics and Political Economy

Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts, Amherst. June 2009.
5   Environmental Defense Fund: Mitigating industry costs and improving competitiveness with a carbon cap: Profile on Metal Manufacturing. Citing the Department of
Energy c/o Oak Ridge National Lab: Save Energy Now Program. 2009. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=38444&taggedWith=38345
6   Environmental Defense Fund: Mitigating industry costs and improving competitiveness with a carbon cap: Profile on Chemicals. Citing McKinsey and Company:
Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve for the Chemicals Sector, Version 2.0, Societal Perspective, 2030 Timeframe. 2009.
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=38444&taggedWith=38345
7   Environmental Defense Fund: Mitigating industry costs and improving competitiveness with a carbon cap: Profile on Cement. Citing McKinsey and Company:
Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve for the Cement Sector, Version 2.0, Societal Perspective, 2030 Timeframe. 2009.
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=38444&taggedWith=38345
8 Industrial Technologies Program - Industrial Assessment Centers Database. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

http://www.iac.rutgers.edu/database/state.php
9   National Wildlife Federation: “Charting a New Path for Colorado’s Electricity Generation and Use.” http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/statefactsheets.cfm
10 Unified Synthesis Product: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Report by the US Climate Change Science Program.

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/usp/default.php
11 University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Environmental Research: Assessing the Costs of Climate Change: Colorado. 2008.

http://www.cier.umd.edu/climateadaptation/
12 National Wildlife Federation: Global Warming and Colorado. 2009. http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Colorado.pdf
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