The Center of Wisconsin Strategy detailed a plan of action Wednesday for state policymakers to invest in clean energy, which they say would create thousands of jobs for Wisconsin residents.

The report, titled ?Greener Pathways,? highlights jobs in energy efficiency as well as the wind and biofuel sectors. These ?green jobs? are defined as traditional family-supporting, middle-skill jobs that incorporate up-to-date training on energy-efficient construction and production.

?A greener American economy can and will create jobs,? said Joel Rogers, Center of Wisconsin Strategy?s director, adding it is important to seize opportunities offered by leading growing industries.

Rogers unveiled the report as part of the keynote address at the Renewable Energy Summit in Milwaukee to create a focus on the role of renewable energy in supporting Wisconsin?s economic well-being.

According to the report, jobs in clean energy efficiency and construction do not work retroactively, resulting in economic loss.  Instead, they prepare the workforce to build on the existing foundation of existing development systems.

?Greener Pathways? focuses on the importance for state legislative action and details a set of policy principles for state legislators in reference to clean energy and workforce development.

?What we try to do is lay out a line of action for local and state government,? COWS spokesperson John Kraus said.

The policy principles stress the need to employ energy standards as tools to create jobs and the need to evaluate and improve green jobs programs.

Some faculty at the University of Wisconsin responded to the report with a mixture of support and a need for further investigation and analysis.

 ?The question is whether this kind of project will create more jobs than some other energy alternatives,? said UW professor Robert Provencher of the agriculture and applied economics department. ?There?s an opportunity cost involved, and the alternative use of money could possibly create more jobs.?

Provencher added investment in clean energy could prove fruitful for the state of Wisconsin, but additional questions need exploration.

UW professor Gary Paul Green of the department of rural sociology said there is a question of whether Wisconsin residents will see the real effects of the investment in clean energy.

?While I am generally supportive of promoting green energy, I think we need a lot more research on the implications for jobs and the economy,? Green said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. ?The data presented in this report are only suggestive of the types of jobs that might be created.?

Green added there is a lack of definitive research on the quality of these jobs and on the opportunities for mobility within these clean energy sectors.

COWS introduced the report Wednesday at the Wisconsin Renewable Energy Summit in Milwaukee and will introduce the report nationally today at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference in Pittsburgh, Penn.