Renewable Energy Minimums Would Provide Lasting Jobs

solveclimate.com:

Several bills are being discussed in Congress this year that would set the first national renewable electricity standards, requiring utilities to derive a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is proposing 20 percent from renewable sources by 2021. Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) want 25 percent renewables by 2025. (To put that in perspective, in 2007, renewables supplied 7 percent of the nation's energy.)

Legislation of this kind is likely to pass in the next several months, whether as a stand-alone bill, or as part of a comprehensive climate change bill. President Obama has already called for a goal of 25 percent from renewable sources by 2025.

While one would expect new jobs would be needed to build up the renewable energy sector to provide that amount of power, the UCS study found that the job gains would remain even after the ramp-up period. Renewables inherently require more labor than fossil-fuel-based power such as coal.

Read the whole story: solveclimate.com

Comments

[orangepetal]

08:58 PM on 03/31/2009

Republicans talk of corporate tax cuts. I think one way to go green, spur investment and innovation in the field and to get the ecconomy moving, could be to offer serious tax inncentives and light pressure to corporations to change their trucks to natural gas and invest to improve energy efficiency in their many various properties. This should create many jobs. Also, encourage corporations to use solar for energy or at least lease their roofs to developing solar industries who might be interested.

I'm not sure if the government should push this, BUT I do find it much more palatable than the government increasing the national debt by substantial amounts. Get green / global warming / news / local energy groups to publicize and request things that companies could do that would make a big difference, and then all the happy customers should praise and thank the company. ATT is doing (retrofitting?) their vans, as a customer and as an American I really do appreciate it. It seems a very bipartisan issue too.

Then federal and local goverment can start by investing in energy conservation within the public sector, real and immediate energy savings could then be spent on solar and other local and green options that would perhaps need more investment and take more time to lead to further savings.
Just ideas.

[sheila]

06:47 PM on 03/31/2009

"lasting jobs?" does that mean that we are trying to force through yet another pyramid scheme, where there has to be endless "growth" to sustain an industry? THAT IS NOT SUSTAINABLE! if we focused on point of use solutions like efficiency, storage and rooftop solar (including oversized systems), then we would not need to waste all our money paying for Big Energy to kill off ever-increasing millions of acres of our wilderness for "green" energy.

Big Solar and Big Wind and Big Transmission are a total scam. WE should own the panels, and be paid a generous feed in tariff for putting GREEN energy into the grid that doesn't kill off the planet, it's ecosystems or its species. Why on earth are people supporting Robber Barons who are exploiting us and poisoning the planet - AGAIN?

Get it together. Either we want democracy and sustainability, or we want corporate fascism where Big Energy dominates our planet and our economy. there is no middle ground.

[sc300nc]

02:32 PM on 04/06/2009

You could also put it this way, Either we want affordable, reliable energy that is pretty damn clean from existing energy corporations, or do we want to overpay for un-reliable renewables.

[Javani]

03:30 PM on 03/31/2009

instead of tilting at windmills, fixing them.

These sort of "studies" always seem to pop up about 2-3 months after public discussion of uncomfortable assumptions, like the National Democratic party establishment's mindset that all the "people" put out of work by "free trade" will get new "good jobs", fixing windmills and scrubbing solar cells. The "nine thousand parts" in a windmill appears to be an argument, "yes, they're real jobs," like those "information economy" jobs promised after NAFTA, but even more phantom.

Anyway, it's mostly cover story to detract from the core app--cap and trade.