Tennessee green economy poised for expansion

6/30/2011

A pair of recent studies on environmentally friendly jobs in Tennessee shows the state's green economy is small but poised for rapid expansion.

A Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development survey of more than 6,000 businesses found more than 43,000 green jobs statewide last year. That accounts for roughly 1.5 percent of the total public and private employment of 2.7 million people in Tennessee.

A Middle Tennessee State University study said six major green businesses and initiatives, such as the Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville, will directly or indirectly create an estimated 16,500-plus permanent jobs.

The state labor department defines the green economy as encompassing the economic activity related to reducing the use of fossil fuels, decreasing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the efficiency of energy usage, recycling materials, and developing and adopting renewable sources of energy. Green jobs accounted for roughly 1 out of every 67 jobs in Tennessee in 2010, according to the state survey.

For the survey, the state considered green jobs as professions for which individuals spent 50 percent or more of their time in one of the green economic activities.

"Every job created contributes to a recovering economy," said Karla Davis, the state's labor commissioner. "Labor market information like this gives educational institutions and job seekers guidance on work force demands and the training it takes to get a job."

Businesses in the survey said they expected to hire another 3,645 people in 2011, primarily in the energy efficiency, transportation and recycling and waste reduction areas. That could mean an 8 percent annual growth for green jobs, which could outpace the statewide rate of 1.2 percent growth for employment overall.

The most in-demand green jobs in Tennessee include solar photovoltaic installers, computer software engineers and some machine operators.

MTSU's Business and Economic Research Center looked at the future of green jobs in Tennessee by studying six major green economy projects in Tennessee that have been announced or have been under construction since 2008.

In addition to the Hemlock plant in Clarksville, the initiatives include the production in Smyrna of an electric battery for the new Nissan Leaf vehicle, Volkswagen of America's new Chattanooga plant with environmentally friendly technologies, Wacker Chemie AG's polysilicon plant being built in Cleveland, the Tennessee Solar Institute in Knoxville, a proposed West Tennessee solar farm in Haywood County and car-battery charging stations statewide.

The study found that the projects represent a total $5.5 billion investment and directly or indirectly create an estimated 16,559 permanent jobs as of 2014.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel