A report released last week by the Business Research Division of the Leeds School of Business in Boulder notes that in 2011, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory alone supported 6,282 Colorado jobs, directly and indirectly, with a total economic benefit to the state of $831.3 million.

Jan. 23, 2012 – The World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF 2012) heads for Denver, May 13-17, in large part because Colorado has become a major hub for renewable energy jobs.

A report released last week by the Business Research Division of the Leeds School of Business in Boulder notes that in 2011, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory alone supported 6,282 Colorado jobs, directly and indirectly, with a total economic benefit to the state of $831.3 million.

Read the report, Economic Impacts of NREL on Colorado, at http://nreldev.nrel.gov/news/pdfs/nrel_colorado_impacts_fy09-11.pdf

The Solar Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., concluded last October that solar businesses in Colorado (installers and manufacturers) support 6,100 jobs directly. Vestas Wind Systems, based in Denmark, employs 1,700 manufacturing workers at three factories in Colorado.

Between them, these three entities employed 10,000 workers directly during the year, with about 4,100 jobs supporting NREL via vendors and outside contractors, including construction jobs.

Other renewable-energy jobs in the state include research and support jobs at the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado, the Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado, and jobs building and maintaining wind farms across Colorado's eastern plains.

Most of the renewable-energy businesses in Colorado will be represented at WREF 2012.

For the first time, the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Conference will be held under the same roof with the biennial World Renewable Energy Congress. The combined event is WREF 2012. The conference will draw prominent speakers and technical presentations from universities, renewable energy laboratories, installations and industries around the world. WREF 2012 will examine how renewable energy technologies address the world's economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants.

For more information, and to register for the conference, visit www.wref2012.org