By Jeffrey Ryser on February 4, 2010 7:37 PM

The consulting firm Navigant said Thursday that by its estimates there are 196,000 people in the US currently employed in the renewable electricity industry.

The firm didn't use the term "green jobs." It specifically identified the category it was describing as generating electricity from wind, solar, biomass, hydropower and waste-to-energy. Its 196,000-jobs estimate is one of the few specific numbers trotted out as the Obama administration and Congress discuss a jobs bill and refer repeatedly to thousands of green jobs that may or may not eventually be created.

In a study it has done for the RES Alliance, a group of 26 renewable energy companies and associations, Navigant says that if, and only if, Congress establishes a stepped-up set of national renewable electricity standards, will jobs in the sector grow.

Job numbers are often carelessly tossed around. Nonetheless, Navigant said in its study that if there is a 12% national RES established for 2014, there could be 67,000 more jobs in the sector by then. A 20% RES target in 2020 would add 191,000 jobs, and a 25% RES target for 2025 would add 274,000 jobs.

For 2025, with a 25% national RES, Navigant broke down the new jobs this way: 116,000 in the wind industry, 60,000 in biomass-related jobs, 50,000 in the solar sector, 34,000 in the hydro sector and 15,000 in the waste-to-energy area.

The consulting firm predicted that the 275,000 added jobs in 2025 might be distributed this way: 52% in manufacturing, 23% in construction and craft trades, 11% in engineering and professional technical services, 5% in operation and maintenance, 5% in administration and 4% in management.

On Wednesday, the Global Wind Energy Council in Brussels said it estimates that about a half million people currently work in the wind energy business around the world.

Looking at the US politics surrounding the issue of renewables and a national RES, the RES Alliance said Thursday, "Job growth in the wind, solar, biomass, waste-to-energy and hydropower industries would particularly benefit the Southeastern US and manufacturing states whose senators have questioned the viability of renewable electricity."