The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration released two new reports last week: one that defines and measures the size and scope of the green economy and another that looks at the ways in which the American economy's greenhouse gas emissions have changed over the past decade.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said the reports will provide a basis against which the Obama administration's success can be measured in creating cleantech jobs, clean energy supply and energy efficiency improvements.
The first of the two reports, “Measuring the Green Economy,” provides an initial step toward measuring the size and composition of the emerging green economy and the number of cleantech jobs it has created. By using publicly-available data on more than 20,000 products and services, the report shows that the green economy is well-poised for growth:
- Shipments/receipts of green products and services comprise between $371 billion to $516 billion in 2007.
- The number of green jobs ranged from about 1.8 million to 2.4 million.
- Green manufacturing jobs totaled between 200,000 and 240,000.
- Green services jobs were much higher, and totaled between 1.4 million and 1.8 million.
- Energy conservation, resource conservation and pollution control were the predominant green activities, accounting for about 80% to 90% of green shipments/receipts and employment.
To read the full, original article click on this link: US Commerce Department Starts Measuring the Green Economy
Author: Sustainable Business
