Clean Energy Jobs in Tennessee

Clean Energy Jobs | Opportunities for Industry and Business | Costs of Inaction

Less Carbon, More Jobs: This map locates some of the hundreds of clean energy businesses in Tennessee

Clean energy already provides thousands of Tennessee workers with good jobs during hard times. This fact sheet collects several sources of information showing how accelerating the clean-energy transition will benefit Tennessee's economy — and, conversely, the costs and consequences of failing to act.

Clean Energy Jobs

Less Carbon, More Jobs

This map¹ tells the story of existing companies across Tennessee that will get new customers and create jobs with a cap on carbon.²

Profiles of Clean Energy Businesses in Tennessee

IdleAire Technologies in Knoxville is one of the many businesses already flourishing from the rising interest in clean energy. Read their story to learn more about clean energy jobs.³

The Clean Energy Economy [PDF]

The clean energy industry in Tennessee is booming (job growth of 18.2%), much faster than the rest of the economy (job growth of 2.5%). By 2007, 1,090 businesses had generated more than 15,500 Tennessee jobs [PDF] in the clean energy economy, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Venture capitalists are investing more than $16 million in Tennessee's clean energy businesses.⁴

	Clean Businesses (2007)	Clean Jobs (2007)	Clean Job Growth (1998-2007)	Overall Job Growth (1998-2007)	Venture Capital (2006-2008)
Tennessee	1,090	15,507	18.2%	2.5%	$16,329,000

Opportunities for Industry and Business

Both the Department of Energy and McKinsey and Company have identified significant, untapped opportunities for key industries in Tennessee to prosper under a clean energy economy.

Metal manufacturing [PDF] companies can save $17.5 million.⁵
The chemical sector [PDF]⁶ can save money by capturing waste heat and swapping out inefficient motors.
The Department of Energy has identified 3,078 ways for small- and medium-sized industrial plants in Tennessee to earn savings from efficiency, with an average payback of only 1 year. Only 44% of these opportunities have been implemented.
Additional information on Tennessee clean energy jobs is available from the National Wildlife Federation⁷ and the Union of Concerned Scientists [PDF].⁸

Costs of Inaction

According to a June 2009 report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, inaction on global warming will cause significant harm to the Southeast.⁹ The University of Maryland has concluded that these effects have heavy economic consequences for Tennessee.¹⁰

Tennessee's $500 million hunting industry could lose more than $80 million per year [PDF] from the decrease in game.
Twelve percent of Tennesseans already suffer from asthma—and increases in asthma rates will cause $187 million in health costs [PDF].
More frequent and powerful heavy rainstorms will lead to more floods like the 2003 Chattanooga flood that caused $34 million in damages [PDF].
Rising temperatures will induce heat stress in Tennessee's diary cows, causing $3.1 million in economic losses [PDF].

And the National Wildlife Federation shows how global warming will damage the 35,226 jobs provided by Tennessee's hunting and angling industries [PDF].¹¹

Start the Clean Energy Economy Now

A nationwide cap on greenhouse gas emissions would jumpstart a new energy economy in Tennessee and accelerate the growth of good-paying, clean jobs. If we fail to act soon, the new markets for clean energy will grow overseas instead.

Tennessee can't afford to miss out on one of the largest new economic revolutions.
www.edf.org/CleanEnergyJobs

Less Carbon, More Jobs: Mapping the Green Economy: Tennessee. Environmental Defense Fund. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=34065&state=TN
Less Carbon, More Jobs: Why a Cap on Carbon? Environmental Defense Fund. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=36571
Less Carbon, More Jobs: Company Case Studies and Profiles. Environmental Defense Fund. http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=35947
Susan Urahn, Joshua Reichert, et. al.: The Clean Energy Economy: Executive Summary. June 2009. The Pew Charitable Trusts. p. 8. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Clean_Economy_Report_Web.pdf
Environmental Defense Fund: Mitigating industry costs and improving competitiveness with a carbon cap: Profile on Metal Manufacturing. Citing the Department of Energy c/o Oak Ridge National Lab: Save Energy Now Program. 2009. http://www.edf.org/documents/9754_Mitigating-industry-costs-Metal-Manufacturing-tennessee.pdf
Environmental Defense Fund: Mitigating industry costs and improving competitiveness with a carbon cap: Profile on Chemicals. Citing McKinsey and Company: Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve for the Chemicals Sector, Version 2.0, Societal Perspective, 2030 Timeframe. 2009. http://www.edf.org/documents/9784_Mitigating-industry-costs-Chemicals-Tennessee.pdf
National Wildlife Federation: "Charting a New Path for Tennessee's Electricity Generation and Use." http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/statefactsheets.cfm
Union of Concerned Scientists: Cashing in on Clean Energy: A National Renewable Electricity Standard Will Benefit Tennessee's Economy and the Environment. July 2007. http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_energy/cashing-in-tennessee.pdf
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. http://www.globalchange.gov/us-impacts
University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research: Assessing the Costs of Climate Change: Tennessee. 2008. http://www.cier.umd.edu/climateadaptation/
National Wildlife Federation: Global Warming and Tennessee. 2009. http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Tennessee.pdf