We have just launched a new section of our website: Clean Energy Endeavors (CEE). CEE includes short profiles of 33 companies and projects across the U.S. in the clean energy and energy efficiency fields. While some of the energy security, economic, and environmental benefits of clean energy and efficiency are realized in the long term, it is important to remember that these technologies make tremendous contributions to the U.S. today. Therefore, CEE focuses on energy companies that already exist and on projects already underway.

Clean energy companies provide manufacturing, construction, and R&D jobs, even as their products reduce harmful air pollution and CO2 emissions. A study by the Brookings Institution found that in 2010, the “Clean Economy” provided 2.7 million jobs (about 2% of total civilian employment), including 0.8 million in Energy and Resource Efficiency; 1.1 million in Greenhouse Gas Reduction, Environmental Management, and Recycling; and 0.1 million in Renewable Energy. The public health benefits of cleaner air are also compelling. A study by Pope et al. showed that improvements in air quality from 1980 to 2000 were responsible for as much as 15% of the overall improvement in life expectancy in 51 major cities across the U.S. Simply put, clean energy and efficiency projects and companies, like those featured in Clean Energy Endeavors, provide Americans with good employment, a better environment, and longer, healthier lives.

Note that CEE is not intended to be a comprehensive database of companies or projects. It is a showcase of a few companies, chosen for diversity in geographic location (within the U.S.) and in the technologies the companies use or create.