904 356-JOBS (5627)

904 356-JOBS (5627)

(Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — The Jacksonville metro area is home to the fourth-highest number of energy-efficient jobs in Florida, according to a recent report.

A study from E4TheFuture and E2 found that Jacksonville has 8,429 energy efficient jobs in 2019. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, which had 44,918 jobs last year, led the state.

The report defines an energy efficiency job as one that focuses on improving energy use. That includes workers who design energy efficient buildings, manufacture and install energy efficient appliances and repair or upgrade HVAC systems.

The Tampa Bay area had 16,258 energy efficiency jobs in 2019, followed by the Orlando-Kissimmee metro area with 12,442 energy efficient jobs and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area with 5,134. Rural Florida, which consists of smaller less populated cities in the state, had 4,948 jobs.

Overall, Florida had the fourth highest number of energy efficient jobs among all states in 2019 with 123,560 total jobs, up from 118,412 in 2018. California with 323,529; Texas with 169,398 and New York with 126,739 had more. Illinois rounded out the top five with 91,024.

Despite the growth from 2018 to 2019, the entire energy efficient industry took a hit from Covid-19. Florida’s energy efficient industry lost 18,110 jobs, a 14.7 percent decrease when compared to December 2019.

The entire industry had 2.05 million jobs in October 2020, down from 2.38 million in December 2019. A loss of 321,875 jobs, or a 13.5 percent decrease, across the industry.

Find the full study here.

Photo courtesy Science in HD.