The Clean Energy Jobs Map demonstrates the significant size and scope of British Columbia’s clean energy economy.

Phase I of the Map focuses on renewable electricity. In 2014, this sector alone was responsible for directly and indirectly employing over 14,100 British Columbians. These employment opportunities were created across the entire province, both in remote areas as well as in our most densely populated cities. Forthcoming phases will expand the Map to include the other three sectors of the clean energy economy: clean technology, buildings and transportation. Often misunderstood, overlooked and undercounted when it comes to jobs, the objective of this project is to spotlight the significance of clean energy to BC’s highly competitive economy.

This map is produced by the Pembina Institute. Questions should be sent to Penelope Comette, Program Director, Clean Energy Economy.

A note on construction

Like most infrastructure projects, the construction phase of an electricity project is the most labour intensive, meaning it is the phase which creates the most jobs. Of the projects displayed on the map, 17% are under construction, which represent 49% of all the jobs or approximately 7,000 jobs. Any project listed in B.C.’s Major Projects Inventory with a commission date after Q2, 2014, is considered under construction.

Methodology

The data used for this map was created by cross-referencing several databases to identify projects currently operating and projects under construction. Currently operating project data comes from the Canadian Industrial Energy End-Use Data and Analysis Centre’s (CIEEDAC) Canadian Renewable Energy Database, BC Hydro’s current IPP supply database, and from direct conversations with industry. Projects currently under construction are identified from BC’s Major Projects Inventory and from direct conversations with industry. Projects that are predicted to commence operations by the end of Q2 2015 were included as currently operating projects.

The Map shows the number of jobs as a snapshot in time (i.e., the number of jobs the industry currently supports in BC) and includes direct and indirect jobs. Job factors are based on BC Stats’ Input Output model, which was also used for BC Hydro’s 2013 Resource Options Report Update, and compared against job factors in the literature. Transmission direct employment numbers are based on the 2011 Review of BC Hydro—adjusted downward to reflect BC Hydro’s decrease in employment between 2011 and 2014 and for the utilities 93% clean energy mandate—and added to each type of generation relative to its share of provincial electric capacity. Whenever job factors appeared inconsistent, The Pembina Institute worked directly with industry partners to quantify more accurate job factors, creating more conservative job estimates.

For a more in-depth understanding our methodology and the factors used please read our methodology backgrounder.

Clean energy: technologies that reduce energy consumption or produce energy (predominately in the form of electricity) from renewable resources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass, among others.

Clean energy economy: the collection of economic sectors that are directly responsible for supplying technologies, products and services that have measurable environmental benefits in terms of their abilities to reduce carbon pollution and improve energy efficiency. This includes jobs that:

• increase the total supply of clean energy from renewable resources,
• enhance energy efficiency in buildings, transportation and industrial processes,
• improve processes and systems that use energy, or
• enable clean energy solutions to permeate the marketplace.*

Large hydro: hydroelectric facilities that use the energy from the movement of a large volume of water stored behind a dam to generate electricity using turbines.

Run-of-river hydro: similar to large hydro, but on a much smaller scale in terms of both project size and electricity generation capacity. Water upstream of run-of-river facilities is also free-flowing, not dammed.

Wind power: electricity generated by harnessing the energy in wind using windmills or wind turbines.

Solar power: electricity or heat generated from the sun using photovoltaic or thermal technology, respectively.

Biomass: electricity produced predominately from burning wood to generate steam to activate turbines. The wood used is typically waste from the forestry sector.

Biogas: often called “waste to energy” is a methane-based fuel produced by rotting organic waste typically captured from garbage dumps and landfill sites. Methane is the same reactive compound found in natural gas.

Megawatt (MW): a traditional measurement of a unit of electrical power that is equal to one million watts. An average wind turbine, for example, produces 2 to 3 MW of electricity under ideal conditions.

Per capita: measurements that take into account each person in a region. For example, for every 1000 people that live in Northeast B.C., 33 of them are currently working in clean energy.

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We would like to thank the funders who have made the Clean Energy Jobs Map possible: