Graphic courtesy: Association of Energy Engineers

Job creation– good quality job creation more specifically– has been a bugaboo for a US economy still struggling to turn the corner on one of the deepest, financially-driven recessions in US history.

While many business leaders, economists and US government representatives, including President Obama, view the fast-growing US renewable energy and clean technology sectors as economic engines that can go a long way toward assuring healthy job creation for decades to come, others have staunchly opposed public sector support for their development. The stalemate has resulted in a stop-and-go federal clean energy policy that in turn has produced recurring cycles of boom-and-bust.