The report comes from Environment Ohio, a Columbus-based research and policy center which has continually prodded state government to increase both dollars and commitment; toward making Ohio a Green Energy leader.
The group's research documented more than 440 Ohio businesses already working in the wind, solar, fuel cell, geothermal, and biomass industries; which "Ohio's Department of Development estimates employ about 60,000 specialized workers.
Some firms, like First Solar in Perrysburg, are large, with more than 700 people, while environmentalists say it is the smaller, still-growing firms like Al Frasz's Dovetail Solar and Wind in Chagrin Falls, with 20 people, that are key to the state's continued energy boom.
ALAN FRASZ: "We're hiring more people and we're paying them more, because we're able to grow the business."
Regional coalition Nortech's Dorothy Baunach tracks those increases, and is helping start up firms find ways to carve out larger slices, of the Green Energy pie.
DOROTHY BAUNACH "We're trying to become as smart as possible about everything going on in the region in advanced, alternative, and renewable energy; and we're also trying to become as smart as possible about what's really going to happen at the federal government level because there are so many dollars coming down that can be invested in this."
Nor is the boom restricted to businesses. The report highlights how changes in the structure of tax credits and grants are now opening the residential market to additional uses of renewable energy, in homes across the state.
Both industry and the environmental groups say that growth will spur additional dollars, and jobs, across all of Ohio.
