A total 47,250 of people are employed in the US corn ethanol sector, a new report by the US Department of Energy (DoE) showed last week.

There are also 14,761 people involved in the production of other ethanol and non-woody biomass fuels, while the woody biomass sector supports 18,031 jobs. This clean fuel employment compares with 747,877 employed in the fossil fuels sector.

Overall 938,786 people work across the fuels industries in the US.

The figures come from the DoE’s inaugural US Energy and Employment Report (USEER), which uses a combination of existing energy employment data and a new survey of energy sector employers. The department says that the analysis will help evaluate the employment impact of new energy technologies, shifting fuels deployment and evolving transmission and distribution systems during a period of rapid change. It found that 3.64 million Americans work in traditional energy industries.

According to data by the US Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the US had 119 operating ethanol biorefineries and 15.1 billion gallons operating production capacity as of January 2016.

Provided by SeeNews exclusively for Essentica.