Many clean-technology jobs pay well, according to a report released Wednesday by the research firm Clean Edge and PayScale, an online compensation data company.

Lawmakers, clean-technology companies and out-of-work employees are hoping that green jobs can replace some of the millions of jobs lost in the recession. But controversy over the wages for these jobs has raised some dispute about whether green jobs are good jobs.

A United States Senate Subcommittee on Green Jobs report earlier this year, for example, found low pay in wind and solar energy, green construction, and recycling workplaces, with jobs in recycling processing paying as low as $8.25 an hour and jobs in renewable-energy factories paying as little as $11 an hour.

According to that report, many wind and solar factories pay below the national average for workers manufacturing durable goods, and most green carpenters, roofers, painters and laborers earn less than $12.50 per hour.

The findings from the PayScale and Clean Edge survey strike something of a counterpoint to that study.

The median earnings found in the survey range from $36,100 a year for an insulation worker to $112,000 a year for design engineering managers in alternative energy, according to Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale.

All the jobs PayScale found were “very reasonably paid,” Mr. Lee said, adding that several entry-level positions — including jobs as solar-energy system installers and solar fabrication technicians — require only high school or associate’s degrees and pay more than $40,000 annually.

“It’s not like working the McDonald’s line,” he said.

Most of the jobs in the survey are for employees with bachelor’s degrees, and more than one-third are engineering jobs, Mr. Lee said.

Still, clean-tech jobs aren’t yet able to replace all the jobs lost in other industries, Ron Pernick, a principal at Clean Edge and the lead author of the report, said during a conference call. And many projects have been put on hold or scrapped in the economic downturn, Mr. Pernick said.

But a significant number of clean-tech jobs offer competitive wages, he added, and a number of companies are opening factories in places that have recently sustained manufacturing layoffs.

Some bright spots include wind-turbine-blade manufacturing by TPI Composites, which has hired 325 people since last year in Newton, Iowa, where Maytag laid off 1,800 workers in 2007. The company aims to employ 500 workers by next year.

Another example is a Ford assembly plant in Michigan that sent 1,500 employees packing when it closed in 2007. It is slated for conversion into a renewable-energy manufacturing park by the energy-storage company Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy, a solar-panel manufacturer.

“It’s encouraging to see that in a dire economic situation, one of the few places we’re seeing job creation is in the clean-tech industry,” Mr. Pernick said.

By Jennifer Kho