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1.9 Million Jobs In New Energy

By Herman Trabish
November 19, 2009 | 6 Comments

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There is a gathering avalanche of data that verifies Obama administration claims that the redemption of the nation’s “jobless recovery” is in a New Energy economy.

A new report, Clean Energy and Climate Policy for U.S. Growth and Job Creation, from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and Yale University, concludes that Congressional legislation incentivizing New Energy and Energy Efficiency would drive investment, increase household income and spur economic output that would build job growth.

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According to the report’s findings, a legislative package comparable to the bill passed by the House of Representatives in June and now working its way through the Senate that institutes emissions reduction measures, New Energy incentives and Energy Efficiency drivers would, by 2020, create 918,000-to-1.9 million new jobs, increase annual household income $487-to-$1,175 per year, and boost GDP $39 billion-to-$111 billion, all beyond business-as-usual (BAU) economic growth.

Far from idle claims or wishful thinking, this study was the result of applying Environmental Assessment in GeneraL Equilibrium (EAGLE), a rigorous economic model collaboratively developed by the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and Yale University.

It is, therefore, one of the most legitimate studies yet to emerge on the impacts of energy and climate legislation and shows that previous studies from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) probably understated the economic benefits of transitioning to a New Energy economy.

(Want more on that avalanche of evidence proving New Energy's economic value? For starters, see Cap and Trade Is Good for the Farmers, New Energy Will Bring Blue Collar Jobs Back, New Energy Everywhere, Climate Fight Is...Good for the Bottom Line and Latest New Energy Job Trends. And that's just for starters.)

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A summary of David Roland-Holst and Fredrich Kahrl's November 13, 2009 (University of California, Berkeley) report from UCal, Berkley, entitled, "Clean Energy and Climate Policies Lead to Economic Growth in the United States: New analysis shows that adopting comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation could create up to 1.9 million jobs " can be found here.

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The information and views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of RenewableEnergyWorld.com or the companies that advertise on this Web site and other publications. This blog was posted directly by the author and was not reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar.

6 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 6

StephenLacey

November 19, 2009

It will be interesting to see what kind of jobs stay in the U.S. My guess is that manufacturing will largely be overseas, and the jobs that remain here will be installation and maintenance jobs. Of course, we'll have financial and management jobs too....

We'd like to believe that the manufacturing economy will be born again in the U.S. I have a feeling we're off the mark on that one...

Comment
2 of 6

NewEnergyNews

November 20, 2009

Stephen--
The American Solar Energy Society study, which carefully and fully describes its methodology and sources, shows a full spectrum of jobs being created by New Energy in the next 2 decades. It is linked near the bottom of this post in CLIMATE FIGHT IS GOOD FOR THE BOTTOM LINE (http://newenergynews.blogspot.com/2009/10/climate-fight-is-good-for-sky-good-for.html)
herman

Comment
3 of 6

rick-kolb-56367

November 20, 2009

Most of these new jobs created will be funded by large increases in energy bills because of FITs, etc. In other words simply a transfer of wealth.

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Anonymous

November 20, 2009

Herman - what you are missing is the fact that more jobs will be created outside the US than within, using US taxpayer money. If the US did it right, the majority of jobs would be created inside the US.
If your blog post (which I didn't and won't read) says the economy would grow by 5% with current plans, it would grow by 10% if the US gave preference to its own economy and people.
The priorities of the current administration are skewed - they favor other countries over their own, and that is simply WRONG.

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Therese

November 21, 2009

I work for a company that makes solenoids and I've been looking at solar to see what kind of work we might get from it. Looks to me like micro-inverters are a good possibility. I see such niches as ideal for small companies in the U.S. because there are a lot of different small businesses supplying parts to the market for a variety of things. Just because the main units may be made in China is no reason to give up on any domestic manufacturing...and there's also room for repair and replacement parts.

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Anonymous

November 23, 2009

I agree with Stephen Lacey. We most recently had an opportunity with a contract and found out we bidding the mfg against both Mexico and India.

Somehow we need to induce a way to keep the mfg. in the U.S.

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