Continuing his "green jobs" campaign, Sen. Sherrod Brown last week touted a report asserting that federal legislation of the type he supports could create more than 51,000 jobs at existing Ohio companies.

The report by the Blue Green Alliance, a consortium of environmental advocates and labor unions, says that federal legislation encouraging clean-energy policies could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs nationwide, and that Ohio would be in the top five for potential jobs in areas such as wind, solar and geothermal energy manufacturing.

That potential can be unleashed by legislation of the type written by the Ohio Democrat, the group says. Brown seeks a $30 billion revolving loan fund for manufacturers trying to retool to go from, for instance, making glass windows to making glass for solar panels.

Brown is looking for ways to back a climate-change bill that places higher costs on power generated by coal, the major source of power generation Ohio. He said on a conference call that he hopes his legislation is included in the pending Senate climate-change legislation -- though passage this year is considered doubtful.

"Clean energy really can be the future if we do it right," Brown said.