West Virginia is outpacing the nation and all but one of its neighbors in job growth in the energy efficiency field. But in terms of actual numbers of jobs, it lags far behind.
West Virginia’s energy efficiency jobs grew by 4.9% from 2017 to 2018. Of its five neighbors, only Pennsylvania saw higher growth, at 5.4%. The national average growth was 3.4%.
But West Virginia has only 6,844 energy efficiency jobs, compared to 81,676 in Ohio, ranked 9th among the 50 states. West Virginia ranks 38th in population, but 46th in energy efficiency jobs — only Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota and Alaska rank lower.
Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, commented, “While it’s good to see a relatively high growth rate for West Virginia, I think the bigger story is how far we’re behind other states. Because of our state policies, we’re hindering the growth of good blue-collar jobs that would diversify West Virginia’s economy.”
Emmett Pepper, executive director of Energy Efficient West Virginia, said, “Energy efficiency jobs are good construction-oriented jobs. Technology and building science has progressed a lot and there are real opportunities for helping people improve their homes and offices. EEWV has been working to help train people around the state and to educate folks on how to grow energy efficiency businesses.”
What are energy efficiency jobs?
The U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) said energy efficiency employment covers the production and installation of energy-saving products and the provision of services that reduce energy consumption. The jobs include the production of Energy Star products, building design and contracting services for insulation, lighting and energy-use reduction.
Nationwide, there are 2,234,866 energy efficiency jobs, with the majority at construction firms.
The numbers come from the report “Energy Efficiency Jobs in America” — produced by E2, a 5,000-member smart energy policy group of business leaders, and E4TheFuture, a nonprofit that promotes residential clean energy and sustainable resource solutions — and its more expansive parent USEER, produced by the Energy Futures Initiative think tank and the National Association of State Energy Officials.
Pat Stanton, director of policy at E4TheFuture, said, “While politicians argue over the direction of our energy transition, the economic benefits of improving energy efficiency continue to unite America’s business and environmental interests. Not only is expanding America’s energy efficiency key to solving multiple climate policy goals, it is now integral to businesses’ expansion plans — saving money and creating local jobs that cannot be outsourced.”
Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, said, “We all know energy efficiency saves consumers and businesses money with every month’s power bill. We should also remember that energy efficiency is creating jobs and driving economic growth in every state — and doing so while also helping our environment, not hurting it.”
Some energy
efficiency numbers
According to reports, for the second year in a row, energy efficiency jobs led the nation’s energy economy in job creation: 76,000 of a total 151,700 jobs added in 2018. The sector also employed twice the number of workers in 2018 as all fossil fuel industries combined (1.18 million compared to 2.23 million).
Nationally, natural gas extraction jobs increased by 17,000, 6.8%, for a total 271,000 jobs. Coal jobs increased by just 650, 0.9%, to total 74,800.
Natural gas power plant employment grew by 5,200 jobs, 4.9%, to reach 112,685 jobs, reflecting the new dominance of natural gas-fired power generation. Coal plant employment decreased by 6,600, 7.2%, to total 86,202 jobs.
Comparing West Virginia’s numbers with its neighbors’ makes it clear we’re an energy extraction state, and more aligned to what the reports call traditional energy jobs: Electric power generation; fuels production, including mining and gas extraction; and power transmission, distribution and storage.
Here’s how West Virginia and its five neighbors rank in raw energy efficiency job numbers and job growth: Ohio, 81,676 jobs, 2.5% growth; Virginia, 78,670 jobs, 2.7% growth; Maryland, 70,530 jobs, 2.2% growth; Pennsylvania, 68,820 jobs, 5.4% growth; Kentucky, 25,530 jobs, 3.9% growth; West Virginia, 6,844 jobs, 4.9% growth.
To some extent, the numbers are proportional to the states’ populations: Ohio has 11.7 million people, Kentucky has 4.5 million, West Virginia just 1.8 million.
But they also reflect the working environments in the states. Here’s how they rank in traditional energy jobs: Pennsylvania, 113,168; Ohio, 98,305; Virginia, 53,755; Kentucky, 43,604; West Virginia, 42,413; Maryland, 31,571.
West Virginia has 14,359 coal industry jobs and 5,816 natural gas jobs. The other states, respectively: Kentucky, 8,298 and 1,080; Maryland, 676 and 749; Ohio, 1,916 and 5,801; Pennsylvania, 6,241 and 14,146; Virginia, 3,076 and 1,869.
Ohio has 13,811 coal-fired power plant jobs and 3,162 natural gas-fired plant jobs, compared to West Virginia’s 2,237 and 287. Ohio has more workers in solar power generation than natural gas. Pennsylvania has more workers in solar and nuclear power than in coal or gas. Maryland and Virginia have more workers in energy efficiency jobs than in traditional energy.
One more close-up. “Energy Efficiency Jobs in America” breaks down energy efficiency job numbers by state legislative district. Locally, by House district: 5th, 33; 49th, 190; 50th, 10; 51st, 313; 52nd, 83; 53rd, 13. While the 51st House District, which includes most of Monongalia County, has 313 such jobs, the 13th Senate District, which include the Morgantown-Fairmont corridor, has only 33.
Local comments
Pepper observed that the numbers tell two stories.
“One is that there are a surprising number of jobs, especially in industrial processes, that relate directly to being more efficient with energy. The other is that there is a great opportunity for more work to be done in our built environment for managing the energy use in our buildings. We are lagging far behind in that area.”
Emmett said he finds it befuddling that popular policies in other states relating to energy efficiency that have no formal lobbyist opposition here cannot go anywhere in state government.
For example, he said, the Local Energy Efficiency Partnership Act has had bipartisan support and has passed the state Senate in a previous session, but keeps dying in the House.
Last session, identical Republican- and Democrat- sponsored LEEP bills died in House Government Organization. These and previous versions would allow a local government to create districts to promote energy efficiency improvements and enter into contracts with property owners to finance or refinance energy projects on the properties.
“The bill simply authorizes private companies to enforce a private contract if they want to enter into such a contract, but the state Legislature apparently believes that by enforcing privately entered contracts, the government takes too much of a role,” Pepper said. “It is confusing, because a core conservative principle is that people have a right to contract.”
Under current law, he said, these types of contracts are not allowed. More than 30 states have enacted similar legislation, including every surrounding state.
Also, the state government, and nearly all local governments, are not managing their utility costs, he said. “It is my understanding that there is not even any central repository where we could, for instance, go and see how much any given state agency pays in electric, natural gas or other utility bills. Much less government-wide data. Collecting the data and tracking it is the first step toward reducing the costs. … I am hopeful that the state might be beginning to look at this issue, but I would think that would be a pretty easy priority since we are now looking at shortfalls of tax revenue and that would be an easy way to cut back.”
Hansen said, “One way to grow jobs in energy efficiency in West Virginia is for the Public Service Commission to mandate that our electric utilities strengthen efficiency programs for their customers.
“Another that requires legislative action is to allow local governments to create Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, programs.”
PACE programs allow property owners to pay for energy efficiency improvements over time through assessments on their property tax bills.
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions further explains, PACE programs enable property owners to avoid high upfront costs related to installing clean energy. A local government will generally implement a state-authorized PACE program by designating an improvement district and issuing a bond secured by the real property within the district to raise capital.
Property owners within the designated improvement district can choose to opt-in to a PACE financing program, but they are not required to do so. The PACE financing program enables access to low interest, long-term loans. Property owners may also see reduced energy bills.
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