September 5th, 2012

North Carolina State University will lead a national nanotechnology research effort to create self-powered devices to help people monitor their health and understand how the surrounding environment affects it, the National Science Foundation announced today.

The 5^th annual North Carolina Clean Energy Industry Census is underway – has your organization participated yet? 

Company responses and information provide the critical insight into the affect clean energy has in North Carolina, and also help ensure that decision makers are aware of the unique business challenges and dynamics North Carolina clean energy companies face. 

If your company has not already participated please either login to the census and complete it online or download the census and fax or email it to NCSEA at (919) 832-6967 or Census@energync.org.

If you would like to check who represents your company for the census, or do not know your online login ID and password please contact NCSEA directly at Census@energync.org. 

If you are an energy consumer and would like to recommend a company for inclusion in the Census based on clean energy services they have provided you in the past please notify NCSEA and we would be happy to include them if they are not already participating.

Since 2008, more than 1,000 different North Carolina companies with activities in clean energy have participated in the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Industries Census, a nationally-recognized effort. By sharing their industry insight and expertise, companies help clean energy stakeholders better understand the affect and dynamics of the North Carolina clean energy sector. 

Starting this week through the end of August, the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA) will be contacting companies by email and phone to participate in the 2012 Census.

Charlotte, NC — Shannon Smith kicked off the Climate, Land Use and Energy Leadership (CLUE) luncheon this week at the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Annual Meeting in Charlotte as part of Abundant Power Group’s sponsorship of the event.  Smith noted the significance of Charlotte’s history as the site of America’s first gold rush as appropriate to the Conference theme of “Power to Lead, Energy to Thrive”, given the opportunity real estate executives have today to manage energy performance and behavioral change in commercial buildings.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina continues to recover from one of the longest recessions in our nation’s history – marked by ongoing high unemployment. Retaining jobs and fostering economic development has become a priority for businesses, policymakers and residents across the state. Since the passage of the Southeast’s first renewable energy and energy efficiency law in 2007, the clean energy sectors – broadly categorized as renewable energy and energy efficiency – have burst onto the scene and are found in every region of the state.

North Carolina boasts an international smart grid cluster, two of the 50 fastest growing companies in the nation (both are renewable energy companies), and regional initiatives, including the Evolve Energy Partnership, Charlotte New Energy Capital and the Research Triangle CleanTech Cluster.

These assets are supported by a diverse sector with industry activities across all major focus areas. In only a few short years, the clean energy sector has become a North Carolina success story and a valued component of our state’s economic landscape.

These and other findings are outlined in the 2011 Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Industries Census. The NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSESA) presented the Census during its annual Making Energy Work conference on Wednesday Nov. 9 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

“One of the key findings of the 2011 census is that the clean energy sector in North Carolina is really a statewide sector. While we do find concentrations of specific technologies like Smart Grid in the Research Triangle, we have found that in addition to the major city hubs like Charlotte and Raleigh, there is an ever-increasing physical presence of firms in the clean energy sector in areas like Hickory, Boone and other areas,” said Rich Crowley, Manager of Market Research & Spatial Analysis for the NC Sustainable Energy Association. “It is important to note that this is using a conservative metric – companies are actually reporting these locations. Unlike national surveys that use large top down database approaches, the NCSEA industry clean energy sector maps are locations that companies are verifying in 2011. In short, there is much more certainty and accuracy with the NCSEA maps since it’s coming directly from industry.”

A sold out auditorium of mostly Georgia and Southeast business leaders, legislators, regulators, utilities, researchers and investors packed the Georgia Tech Research Institute last Friday, June 24 for the 2011 Southern Solar Summit.  The event focused on how the solar market and industry can scale up in Georgia and across the Southeast.  The number one take-away from this conference:  there is no “free market” when it comes to electricity and solar power, so the solar industry cannot have a viable market growth opportunity without policy and regulatory change – no matter how much further the cost of solar falls over the coming months and years.

As part of a panel on economic development, NCSEA’s Executive Director, Ivan Urlaub presented North Carolina’s progress in...

This week, NCSEA released the results of the 2010 North Carolina Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Industries Census.  One of the findings was that there are likely over 1,350 full time equivalent (FTEs) solar professionals working in North Carolina.  The Solar Foundation also recently released their National Solar Jobs Census 2010, in which they reported there are over 93,000 workers in the United States that spend over half their time supporting solar activities.  North Carolina was ranked 14^th in the United States for solar employment, supporting 1% to 2% of all national solar jobs.

NCSEA's methodology for estimating jobs is different, and more conservative, than the Solar Foundation's method.  Despite these differences in methodology, the Solar Foundation estimate of 1% to 2% of all national solar jobs being in North Carolina appears to be a reasonable, if not slightly low estimate based on the results from NCSEA's 2010 North Carolina Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Industries Census - which reported solar FTEs equivalent to 1.5% of the Solar Foundation’s national total.

This past July and August NCSEA administered the Annual North Carolina Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Industries Census.  The Census was distributed to over 1,000 North Carolina companies.  Over 50% of the companies took the time to send in their completed census and comments, and another 25% contacted NCSEA to let us know they were unable to participate this year.

Over the next several weeks as the census report is being written, NCSEA is pleased to be able to share some important trends that we are seeing.  Please make sure to check back in late October for the final Census report which will include detailed breakdowns and analysis of these trends, as well as the employment and revenue impacts of renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in North Carolina over the past year.