There are five times as many people employed in the clean energy industry than in fossil fuel jobs in Indiana, according to a report released this week by the nonprofit Clean Energy Trust.

Among Midwest states, Indiana has the second highest percentage of clean energy jobs in its workforce (2.7 percent) and ranks second in wind energy employment.

“Clean energy is not just a fad, but it is a real job creator and a real industrial force,” says Alex Foucault, senior program manager at Clean Energy Trust.

The majority of Indiana’s green jobs are in energy efficiency — especially in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

Of Indiana’s green jobs, 17 percent are in manufacturing hybrid and electric cars. Foucault says issues in the auto sector caused a slight decline in clean energy employment across the U.S.

“Which faced heavy competition with Japanese and European automakers across the country. Most sub-sectors except for electric vehicles declined,” he says.

Foucault says employers had a hard time finding qualified workers in the clean energy industry in 2017. Even so, he says employers expect those jobs to increase in Indiana by more than six percent this year.

Indiana Environmental reporting is supported by the Environmental Resilience Institute, an Indiana University Grand Challenge project developing Indiana-specific projections and informed responses to problems of environmental change.