A recent report, which was based partly on research by the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, was just released by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). It states that a shift toward renewable energies and away from fossil fuels could create more than 2.7 million (extra) jobs. Besides the increase over fossil fuels in job growth, a shift toward renewable energies could help combat global climate change.
The report says, in part, “A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual.” Rather than eliminating jobs--as some commentators believe the ramping down of fossil fuel power generation--the report concludes that jobs will actually increase. By investing money and development in solar, wind, tidal, and biomass, two grave problems can be addressed simultaneously. For instance, after the automobile industry, the wind turbine industry is currently the second-largest steel consumer in Germany. The study projects that jobs in power generation will rise from about 9 million today to more than 11 million by 2030; it projects renewables jobs will rise from 1.9 million to 6.9 million. On a related note, it projects that if things continue as they have been, that jobs in coal power generation will fall by about half a million, to 8.6 million by 2030.
The report goes on to say that in 2008, for the first time, both the United States and the European Union added more power generating capacity from renewable energy than from conventional sources such as gas, coal, oil, and nuclear power. The report adds ammunition to supporters of sustainable energy and helps to deflate opponents of sustainable energy who criticize the movement on the grounds that it will stifle job growth.
