In a blog post titled "Moving forward or backward, our choice," Rona Fried cites a recent AEEI study on advanced energy employment in California:

Then there's the other big job creator: the rise of renewable energy in our country. With California on track to reach 33 percent renewable energy by 2020, a cap-and-trade system that prices carbon, and strong incentives for cleaner transportation, Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Calif.) announced that it's time to establish the next set of objectives in his fourth inaugural address. By the end of this year, 500,000 people in California will be employed by the booming clean energy industry — more than those in the TV and film, semiconductor and aerospace industries, according to the Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEE) — in areas like solar and wind, energy efficiency and electric vehicles. This is the largest advanced energy workforce in the country and the growth can be directly attributed to the state's leading policies.

Read the full piece here.