The U.S. Department of Energy reports that renewable energy firms are creating more jobs than their fossil fuel counterparts. In fact, solar and wind energy companies generated more jobs than oil, coal, and natural gas combined… even though renewables provide a fraction of the power of their fossil predecessors. Solar energy, for example, provides only 1.3% of the nation’s power, but creates twice as many jobs as coal that provides 30% of the nation’s power.

The entire supply chain of solar and wind industries including those that manufacture, install, and run turbines and panels employs 476,000 workers, while fossil fuel companies employ 187,117 people.

The solar industry is adding jobs at a rate 17 times faster than the overall U.S. economy. One in 50 new jobs in the U.S. was in the solar industry. According to Vote Solar, and drawing from The Solar Foundation’s Solar Jobs Census, 260,000 people are working in the solar industry, another year of double-digit growth. American solar industry created one new job every 10 minutes. California is the nation’s leader with over 100,000 workers. California solar jobs grew by 32% in 2016.