As the demand for affordable, clean energy rises, the industry is expanding — and it’s creating jobs. According to Reuters, the U.S. Department of Energy reports encouraging growth in clean energy jobs, with multiple milestones passed this year.

In 2023, the clean energy industry added 142,000, rising by 4.2%. That is more than double the rate of growth of jobs in general, which was 2%, and also represents an increase over the previous year. Clean energy unionization also rose to 12.4%, a higher rate than unionization in the energy industry as a whole, which was at 11%.

The Energy Department’s report includes wind, solar, nuclear, and battery storage. Wind and solar are two methods of generating abundant, inexpensive energy — without producing any air pollution — and are widely recognized as “clean energy.”

Nuclear power also produces no air pollution, and while the issue of nuclear waste makes it more complex than other clean energy options, it is still an important part of the transition to clean energy. This is because nuclear reactors can produce power on demand in any weather, unlike wind and solar, which rely on the right conditions to produce electricity.

Likewise, battery storage is essential for storing clean energy to release it when it’s needed — storing solar power for use at night, for example. This makes it a vital part of modern electrical infrastructure.

Not only is the clean energy industry growing, it’s expected to continue. According to what Betony Jones, the Department of Energy’s head of energy jobs, told Reuters, construction work in clean energy “is expected to continue for decades to build out the clean energy infrastructure that we need.”

The one possible caveat is that the growth depends on recent legislation like the bipartisan CHIPS Act and the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told Reuters that some proposed bills to repeal parts of the IRA would “pull the rug out” from tens of thousands of clean energy and manufacturing jobs.

However, for now, the future of clean energy looks bright.

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