Jobs in wind and solar are both growing like gangbusters and comprise the majority of jobs in the electric-power sector, according to the US Department of Energy (motto: Not Eliminated Yet).
If the above chart does not reproduce, it’s in the linked story, and worth a look.
Solar alone beats fossil (and nuclear); wind alone beats coal. Cheers and congratulations and thank you to the policy advocates and entrepreneurs who made this possible.
This is amazing good news, and I hate to spoil the party. But I have a question.
How hard would it have been to give a chunk of those jobs to displaced coal miners and rust-belt workers?
It’s not a trivial problem, but not an intractable one either. You’d need to involve the industry and find a way to direct a small fraction of the money that is flowing to renewables into real job-training programs. Then help connect the trainees to the jobs.
It’s exactly the sort of thing that neoliberal advocates of globalism excel at giving lip service too: sharing the benefits of new technologies and globalism with those who would otherwise be net losers of jobs and wealth and standing.
So ask yourself that, and also this: Where would be be now if that sort of thing were actually done and not merely talked about?
jconway says
Wind is about to blow up in the southeast and they are hiring ex- offshore drill operators in the Gulf states and ex-mill workers in the Carolina’s. This framing was the centerpiece of Tim Ryans leadership bid (“all the components for a wind farm create hard hat jobs”) Frankly, if we had sold Cape Wind strictly as a jobs program for the south coast it would be as popular as the Amazon plant in Fall River instead of languishing in regulatory limbo. As I observed during the first debate and Maggie Halberman confirmed for the Timesayhe #1 phrase Trump echoed on the trail was “jobs”. We would be wise to message sustainability the same way.
gmoke says
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/01/07/1618082/-Turn-Red-States-Blue-with-Green-Energy
Would be good if the Dims realized what an opportunity, both electoral and economic, the renewable transition underway can be.
johntmay says
in the reality that clean energy and the jobs it brings is a an economic reality, despite the wealthy self-interests that oppose it. Who knows how much damage Trump and the rest can do in the short term? I just hope it’s not too late.
Christopher says
…wealthy self-interests need not and should not oppose this. There is lots of money to be made in this area, even more if energy subsidies are redirected this way.
jconway says
Locally it’s the NIMBY caucus (many of them card carrying progressives) who oppose Cape Wind since they feel it would affect their property values. And these are tiny dots off shore. My wife’s hometown in the Philippines has them on the beach and they have been a huge economic engine for the area. And quite aesthetically pleasing in my book.
johntmay says
…will be obstructed!
I wanted to tear the radio out of my car and toss it into the oncoming traffic a few years ago when I heard that the residents of the islands off of Massachusetts did not want the wind farms to obstruct the pristine nature of the area………yeah, as they put another addition onto their 4,000 sq ft vacation home on what was a pristine island.
stomv says
You link to the image twice.
I’m curious to read it because there was a (different?) article making its way around recently with similar claims, but the fine print rendered the claim questionable at best.
Trickle up says
Fixed it sort of. There’s not much to the story—there are better stories about the report, but I liked the chart.
Not trying to be wonkish about energy this time, but to make a point about our failure. I think gmoke said it best upthread: this is an ongoing missed opportunity.
stomv says
It’s not that the chart is wrong, it’s that it is incomplete. It doesn’t include fuel extraction. To ignore the coal and gas extraction jobs is a pretty narrow view.
There are loads of jobs in renewables, and that number is growing. There are few jobs in coal, and that number is shrinking. Gas though — lots of jobs in gas, and the number has been growing since the beginning of the shale boom.
Trickle up says
corrected, about the graphic at any rate.
thegreenmiles says
Obama proposed a $3B aid package for coal country that was blocked by Congressional Republicans.
The climate & energy bill – also blocked by Congressional Republicans – had an ungodly $177B in subsidies for “clean” coal technology.
Hillary Clinton had a plan for coal country that was blocked by
RussiaFBI Director James ComeyTrump voters.Christopher says
…when she suggested those coal jobs were going away – she told the truth!
johntmay says
to pivot from “those jobs are going away” to say they’ve been going away for years, and it’s time that we use the resources of state, local, and the federal government to embark on another path, akin to the Tennessee Valley Authority Act , but this time, instead of harvesting the natural energy of our rivers, we will build new power girds, turbines, solar farms to harvest the natural energy of our wind and sunshine, and this will provide thousands of well paying secure jobs for America’s displaced coal miners.
….but she didn’t.
stomv says
She had a $30B plan.