Solar Jobs Beat Fossil Fuel Industries Combined

Solar Employs More People In U.S. Electricity Generation Than Oil, Coal And Gas Combined

Niall McCarthy, January 25, 2017 (Forbes)

“…[More people] were employed in solar power last year than in generating electricity through coal, gas and oil energy combined…[Solar employed 43 percent of the electric power sector's] workforce in 2016, while fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent [according to the Energy Department’s 2017 jobs report and this refutes Donald Trump's assertion that green energy projects are bad] for the American economy…Just under 374,000 people were employed in solar energy…while coal, gas and oil power generation combined had a workforce of slightly more than 187,000. The boom in the country's solar workforce can be attributed to construction work associated with expanding generation capacity….[Coal generation has fallen] 53 percent over the last decade. During the same period, electricity generation from natural gas increased 33 percent while solar expanded 5,000 percent…Solar energy added 73,615 new jobs to the U.S. economy over the past year while wind added a further 24,650.” click here for more

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