Latest new energy job trends

In last decade, New Energy has increased up to take a place together with biotech, software, and medical devices as one of the biggest recipients of venture capital (VC) and private equity dollars in the world ($13.5 billion in VC and private equity money worldwide and $3.35 billion in U.S. VC investment in 2008). With this huge influx of money, comes jobs as well. As jobs proliferate, trends become clear.

The figures for 2009 year are down but the trends are following the same course. Smart grid networking, high efficiency window and green building materials manufacturing, and thin-film solar photovoltaic manufacturing are seeing increased investment and job opportunity. Even media work in New Energy is growing.

The solar energy industry continues to display promising employment trends despite being in the cusp of the recession. According to last data, at worldwide level, the solar photovoltaic industry alone supplies 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and the wind industry provides 400,000 jobs.

As a result of a combination of job postings, job placements and public and private investments, Clean Edge Inc reveled that the top 5 New Energy fields in which job growth is taking place are (1) solar, (2) biofuels and biomaterials, (3) conservation and efficiency, (4) smart grid, and (5) wind.

Specific examples include (1) wind-turbine production line workers in central Pennsylvania, (2) ethanol distillers in São Paulo, Brazil, (3) smart-grid software designers in northern California, and (4) PV manufacturers in China’s Jiangsu province.