About 330 businesses and 3,100 jobs in West Virginia fit Pew's "clean energy" definition in 2007, down a little from 350 and 3,200 in 1998, according to "The Clean Energy Economy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America."

Nationwide, the numbers rose: from 62,000 to 68,000 businesses and from 706,000 to 770,000 jobs -- a job-growth rate of 9.1 percent, compared to 3.7 percent for jobs as a whole.

"The clean energy economy, still in its infancy, is emerging as a vital component of America's new economic landscape," the study authors found.

Pew asserts that its analysis is the first to count actual jobs, businesses and investments state by state.

The study's authors identified five economic categories: clean energy, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production, conservation and pollution mitigation and training and support.

Then, to count businesses and jobs, they enumerated within those categories 16 economic segments and, within those, specific Standard Industrial Classification codes: representing, for example, coal gasification, geothermal drilling and oil spill clean-up.

Sixty-five percent of today's clean energy economy jobs are in the category of conservation and pollution mitigation, according to the study.

"But three other categories -- clean energy, energy efficiency and environmentally friendly production -- are growing at a far faster clip," the study reads.

West Virginia had 3,065 clean energy jobs in 2007, a number that, unlike for most states, dropped over the previous decade. The national average change was 1.9 percent per year.

State Division of Energy Director Jeff Herholdt believes the state's numbers are now growing.

"We have 330 megawatts of electric generation from wind in place, and we have another 461 megawatts of capacity that's permitted," Herholdt said, noting that still more capacity is proposed.

"We have 264 megawatts of hydroelectric energy in place and another 127 megawatts in the permit stages," he continued. "These are certainly clean energy developments in West Virginia."

The state DOE also plans to spend federal stimulus funds creating four community college programs that will promote clean energy development, he added: programs in wind and solar technologies, in building technologies and in the new building code.

The Pew report also looks at venture capital and patents as drivers of development.

U.S. venture capital investment in clean energy technologies exceeded $1 billion for the first time in 2005, the researchers found, and totaled about $12.6 billion during the past three years.

And investments in clean technology are faring well, they wrote: They were down 48 percent in the first three months of 2009 compared with a year earlier, while total venture capital across all sectors was down 61 percent for the same period.

West Virginia was one of 40 states that attracted venture capital into clean energy areas between 2006 and 2008: a total of $5.7 million on a range that topped out at $6.6 billion in California and $1.3 billion in Massachusetts.

West Virginia also was home to 14 of 8,384 clean energy patents awarded from 1999 through 2008.

"Today, every state has a piece of the clean energy economy. But there will be winners and losers going forward," the study's authors concluded.

"Policy makers who act quickly and effectively could see their states flourish, while others may lose opportunities for new jobs, businesses and investments," they wrote. "State leaders recognize this, and a growing number are pursuing measures such as financial incentives for clean energy generation and energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy efficiency standards, and laws to reduce vehicle emissions."

"The Clean Energy Economy" may be found online at www.pewtrusts.org/cleanenergyeconomy.