JOBS IN SUN

There are a lot of good reasons to promote New Energy. How about economic growth?

Jobs could grow in renewable energy, solar society says; Government can fuel employment growth
John Funk, July 13, 2007 (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

WHO
The American Solar Energy Society (ASES), Ohio Department of Development (DoD), Management Information Services Inc. economist Roger Bezdek
Not only is quite a lot of the work impossible to outsource, but it is work ranging across the educational spectrum, from physicists and engineers to rooftop installers. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
A report commissioned by ASES and Ohio’s Development Department found over half a million people are employed by the renewable energy equipment industries and over 8.5 million more are employed manufacturing energy-efficient products – and those numbers are expected to increase significantly over the next quarter century.

WHEN
- 2006: Grenn industry earned $1 trillion.
- The study described the most current economic findings and made rough estimates for 2030.

WHERE
- Management Information Services Inc. is based in Washington, D.C.
- Bezdek’s study was commissioned jointly by ASES and Ohio DoD and covers national and Ohio statistics.
- The findings of the 8-month study were released at the ASES conference in Cleveland.

WHY
- 25-year projection: 40 million jobs, $4.5 trillion in revenues nationally.
- Full growth depends on federal and state initiatives like those in Europe, Japan and China. As a result of other countries’ initiatives, the U.S. has dropped to 4th or 5th place in solar energy development.
- What kind of growth?
1. Gradual growth will be produced by no new government initiatives.
2. Moderate/incremental policy incentives + current policy will allow growth.
3. Favorable market conditions + strong/sustained state and federal incentivizing produces "pushes the envelope, crash" growth similar to what Germany, Japan and California are moving toward.
- Job losses in states like Ohio can become advantages, creating a workforce ready to seize opportunities created by smart government policy.
The future's so bright we're gonna need shades. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Bezdek: "We now have a benchmark, a base, from which this kind of analysis can be done from here on out…”
- Bezdek: “There is no magic bullet here [to produce maximum growth]…I think it is best to look at a whole portfolio of things that can be done, ranging from public education, worker training, tax incentives, tax credits, loan guarantees, a renewable-energy portfolio, other government mandates, demonstration programs, pilot programs, R&D - the whole smorgasbord."
- Bezdek: "As drivers behind the aggressive scenario - where the United States really pulls up its bootstraps and takes a proactive approach to renewable energy - there would probably be multiple drivers, including climate change, global warming, the peak-oil issue, the national energy security issues…All of these combined we are assuming would be sufficient to get the nation embarked on a sustained effort over the next 25 years to really jump-start . . . renewable-energy technologies."