Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon has the largest number of clean-energy jobs per capita in the nation, according to a study released Wednesday. Kristian Foden-Vencil has the details.

As part of its climate change initiative, the Pew Charitable Trusts wanted to figure out how many jobs are in the clean energy economy and what’s driving their creation.

Spokeswoman, Phyllis Cuttino, says they found that Oregon was a leader with 19,000 workers and about 1600 businesses.

Phyllis Cuttino: “Oregon has a great story to tell. In fact, jobs in Oregon’s clean energy economy grew at a rate of 50 percent, while the state’s overall job growth was 7.5 percent between that period of 1998 and 2007. That was quite remarkable.”

There was one black-mark on Oregon’s record.

Researchers found that it doesn’t have an energy efficiency resource standard, as 19 other states do. Such a standard would require utilities to make certain energy efficiency savings.