Many clean energy jobs pay well, according to a new report by the research firms, Clean Edge and PayScale.
The survey tracked median salaries for solar energy installers ($40,000), entry-level wind turbine technicians ($52,600), mid-level LEED-certified green architects ($58,700), and smart-grid hardware design engineers ($87,700).
The salaries were higher than those reported earlier this year by a U.S. Senate subcommittee. The Senate panel found below-average pay for jobs in wind and solar manufacturing, green construction and recycling workplaces.
Clean Edge also listed 15 metropolitan areas that are "current hotbeds of clean-tech job activity," based on the number of existing green jobs, the amount of green investing going on, and employers' growth projections. The top 15 are:
1. San Francisco -- Oakland -- San Jose, CA
2. Los Angeles -- Riverside -- Orange County, CA
3. New York -- Northern New Jersey -- Long Island, NY, NJ, CT, PA
4. Boston -- Worcester -- Lawrence -- Lowell -- Brockton, MA, NH
5. Washington -- Baltimore, DC, MD, VA, WV
6. Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO
7. Seattle -- Tacoma -- Bremerton, WA
8. Portland -- Salem, OR
9. Chicago -- Gary -- Kenosha, Il, IN, WI
10. Sacramento -- Yolo County, CA
11. San Diego, CA
12. Austin -- San Marcos, TX
13. Phoenix, AZ
14. Detroit -- Ann Arbor, MI
15. Houston -- Galveston -- Brazoria, TX
The study concluded that "the clean-tech revolution is a highly dispersed phenomenon, unlike the earlier high-tech revolution with its epicenter of Silicon Valley. No one place or region will control any one clean-tech sector."
