More Workers in Colorado Advanced Energy than in Hospitals, Triple Those in Agriculture — With 8% Growth Expected in 2018

Advanced energy roadmap shows six policy areas to expanded use of secure, clean, and affordable energy resources, while growing the economy

Denver, August 8, 2018 — Today, national business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) released a fact sheet showing that Colorado has 62,800 people working in advanced energy across the state. This represents more workers than those in hospitals (62,574), and three times as many as those working in agriculture (18,865) across the state. The U.S. has a total of 3.4 million working in advanced energy jobs across the nation.

“With more than 62,000 workers and growing, advanced energy is now a significant and growing sector of Colorado’s economy,“ said J.R. Tolbert, vice president for state policy, Advanced Energy Economy. “The next governor has an opportunity to further expand this market and create even more jobs to keep our economy humming, while producing secure, clean affordable energy for Colorado.”

Key Colorado jobs employment details:

• Energy efficiency led the segment with more than 32,000 jobs.
• Strong 8% jobs growth in state expected by companies.
• Top 5 counties are: Denver (12,200), Arapahoe (8,000), Jefferson (6,700), El Paso (5,300) and Adams (5,300).

AEE members have also engaged with leading gubernatorial campaigns and have highlighted six key policies in a Colorado advanced energy policy roadmap delivered to each campaign yesterday. Specific policies address ways to:

• Modernize the electricity system to focus on consumer needs.
• Optimize electricity system infrastructure to drive innovation and support rural renewable energy development.
• Expand deployment of energy efficiency and demand response.
• Electrify the transportation sector.
• Utilize policy mechanisms to increase the availability of low-cost, reliable, advanced energy.
• Improve access to capital for Colorado’s advanced energy innovators and entrepreneurs.

The employment figures were derived from analysis by AEE and BW Research Associates of data from the 2018 U.S. Energy and Employment Report published by the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) earlier this year, as well as data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About Advanced Energy Economy
Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) is a national association of businesses that are making the energy we use secure, clean, and affordable. Advanced energy encompasses a broad range of products and services that constitute the best available technologies for meeting energy needs today and tomorrow. AEE’s mission is to transform public policy to enable rapid growth of advanced energy businesses. AEE and its State and Regional Partner organizations are active in 27 states across the country, representing more than 1,000 companies and organizations in the advanced energy industry, which now employs 3.4 million U.S. workers. Visit AEE online at www.aee.net and follow the latest industry news @AEEnet.