There's a signpost up ahead. Your next stop --

Clean Edge, a research firm focused on "clean tech," has just released a fascinating report that one can read as a sort of road map to future careers. (Call it a chart of one particular "occupational nation-state.") Clean tech deals with energy, certainly, but also in technologies that "harness renewable materials," "reduce the use of natural resources by using them more efficiently and productively," and help eliminate pollution. Thus, the work can involve hydrogen fuel cells, water recovery and capture, or biomimicry. (Or, as in the photos below, biofuel for planes and insulation made out of...old blue jeans.) Clean Tech Job Trends 2009 -- you can download a free copy here -- presents a raft of insights on median pay levels, notable industry employers, trends and financing models.

As part of the survey, Clean Edge lays out the 15 best U.S. metro areas for clean tech jobs, among them: #1 San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento(!), Phoenix and Detroit(!!). Here too are some other locations, both here and abroad, where clean tech sectors are emerging and thriving. For example, in green building design services, St. Louis, Stuttgart (Germany) and Trondheim (Norway) are the new "centers of expertise."

If you're on the fence as to whether to pursue such a career, consider this your late-night cram session and your wake-up call. Please don't hit the snooze.

--Posted by Todd Obolsky, Vault Staff Writer