“...Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” by Margaret Mead
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As Labor Day retreats in the rear view mirror, a new report from nonprofit, nonpartisan business group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) offers a positive job growth outlook for one sector: clean energy.
Solar energy is a job creator, with more than 5,300 jobs announced in the second quarter of 2014. Photo credit: Shutterstock
While the coal and fracking
industries try to make their case with an emotional appeal to anxious
workers, saying that regulating these industries will cost jobs in a
still-struggling economy (and despite record declines in mining jobs due to mechanization), the report shows that the new energy technologies are a growth area for labor.
“Clean Energy Works for Us: Second Quarter 2014 Report” says 12,500
new jobs were announced in the areas of clean energy and clean
transportation, double the number in the first quarter. It says:
Solar power generation led all sectors in
Q2 with more than 5,300 jobs announced, and the wind industry announced
more than 2,700 jobs, many stemming from projects that qualified for
the recently expired Production Tax Credit (PTC). Other major
announcements came from electric car manufacturers Tesla and General
Motors.
While celebrating the findings, the group warns that policy uncertainty—measures such as Ohio’s freeze and possible repeal of its clean energy standards—could put a damper on growth.
“This Labor Day weekend, the story is that more Americans are working
because of clean energy,” said E2 executive director Bob Keefe. “But to
keep that growth going, we need our state and federal leaders to do
their jobs too. We need them to support smart policies that grow our
economy and protect our environment— policies like the federal Clean
Power Plan.”
That plan, announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in
June, cuts carbon from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. That policy
could create hundreds of thousands of jobs in renewable energy along the
way.
Wind Power Monthly
reports a similar optimistic take on worldwide job opportunities in
clean energy while issuing a similar caveat in an article “The Challenge
of Wind Recruitment.”
In interviews, three wind energy executives pointed to the growing
need for skilled workers in their field. In the article, Eddie Halkett,
group business development director for energy company EarthStream said
that continued growth in wind energy could produce as many as 2.6
million jobs worldwide by 2030.
“The challenge is to establish and preserve a sustainable,
international skills market that does not fluctuate and decline as a
result of inconsistent investment, political interference and fierce
competition from other subsidised energy sources,” he said.
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