Clean Energy
The Clean Energy Sector— CWWC’s newest targeted sector—is about the transition away from fossil fuels as our primary source of energy, and the embrace of clean, renewable, and sustainable sources of energy like wind, solar, and hydropower.
Clean Energy-related occupations are those that are critical to the clean energy transition (more on this below), such as building- and construction-related careers, forestry and regenerative agriculture, transportation and public transit careers, and careers related to the manufacture of products and components that support the transition.
Clean Energy in Portland-Vancouver Metro
8%
5Yr. Job Growth (%)
4,946
# of firms
$114,725
average wage
It is helpful to think of this emerging sector as synonymous with efforts to transition our ways of living and doing business in the United States to those with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Drought, heat events, wildfires, water and air quality concerns, intensifying winter storms, flooding, and ice storms have catapulted the need to make this transition, while also hardening our infrastructure and communities against the impacts of such events, to the forefront of our collective consciousness in recent years.
The clean energy transition can be thought of in two parts
1
The first part is about increasing the amount of renewable energy created from solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric sources, which we use to keep buildings a living temperature, power our lights and appliances, and move things and people from point A to point B. At the same time, it’s about using less energy from traditional sources such as the burning of fossil fuels. As an example, this looks like building utility-scale wind and solar infrastructure that supplies the electrical grid.
2
The second part involves making our buildings, appliances, and vehicles in a way that allows them to use that renewable-source energy, and to do so as efficiently as possible. This looks like retrofitting our existing homes and businesses to be as efficient as possible, and using appliances powered by electricity instead of gas. It looks like building communities in a way that promotes biking, walking, or using public transportation instead of driving gas-powered vehicles. It looks like installing infrastructure that makes electric- or hydrogen-powered vehicles a reliable and viable option to move people and goods.
CWWC is in the early stages of developing partnerships and programming to support the development of this sector, and the creation of Quality Jobs, in the Portland-Vancouver Metro area. Watch this space for more information.