THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS IN NEW ENERGY
Results from states with Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) provisions requiring utilities to obtain a percent of their electricity from renewables by a date certain strongly suggest that legislative mandates are the best way to incentivize New Energy development -- and the likely economic boon it would bring.
Best of all: Utility prices are essentially unaffected, long term.
Wind and Solar Energy: Renewable Energy to Create Thousands of New Jobs
Melissa Monk, Ocotber 26, 2007 (Energy Policy TV via BusinessWire)
WHO
Rhone Resch, President, Solar Energy Industries Association; Randy Swisher, President, American Wind Energy Association, Energy Policy TV
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WHAT
In separate interviews at Energy Policy TV events, Resch and Swisher described the enormous economic benefits available if and/or when political leaders pass legislation incentivizing New Energy in ways similar to those it has in the past provided to fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
WHEN
- Resch expects 55,000 new jobs in the next 8 years from pending national energy legislation.
- The wind energy industry is expected to grow 50% in 2007.
WHERE
- Resch stressed the importance of tax credit extensions for renewables in the pending energy bill.
- Swisher stressed the importance of a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) in the pending energy bill to mandate development of renewables.
WHY
- Resch predicts 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs over the next ten years at solar energy’s present rate of growth.
- The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) may create a training program for solar installation and maintenance.
- New homes are being built with solar systems.
- Governors and other state officials are lobbying wind energy providers and hardware manufacturers to establish businesses.
- There are more than 6000 megawatts of new wind energy presently under construction in the US.
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QUOTES
- Resch: “Silicon Valley…is being renamed as ‘Solar Valley’ [because] those companies are making the transition over to solar as the next great high-tech growth industry and we have an opportunity to keep that industry here in the United States.”
- Swisher: “[Wind energy] has been the second-largest contributor [of] new installed capacity behind gas for the last three years…[Future turbines, including a 7.5 megawatt machine is driving] towards the scaling up process.”