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About ten years ago, a retired firefighter used his pension to start a new energy efficiency company called Verde Energy Efficiency Experts. Now, the Ravenswood-based business has 28 employees and is hoping to grow even more in the coming years. Even at the height of the pandemic, they were able to keep their employees on the payroll while supporting other small businesses through cost-saving energy efficiency improvements.

To be clear, these aren’t just jobs - they’re good jobs. Employees at Verde have long-term employment, healthcare, retirement plans, student loan assistance, and more. So how did they do it, and what can Illinois do to keep supporting small businesses like theirs? We recently interviewed Beth Holaday, Partner Relations Manager at Verde, to learn more.

As Beth said, Verde is a great company, but if the state doesn’t take action to support clean energy jobs, businesses like this one might not survive the next ten years. That’s why she is urging Governor Pritzker and the legislature to pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) this spring!

CEJA recently passed the House Energy and Environment Committee and has a growing list of 43 cosponsors in the House. Learn more at ilcleanjobs.org.