Paradigm Shift — Solar & Wind Jobs Growing 12 Times Faster Than US Economy

In yet another indication that the clean energy revolution is well underway, a new report finds that solar and wind jobs are growing 12 times as fast as rest of the U.S. economy. These jobs have grown by about 20 percent annually in recent years.

The report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) notes that renewable energy jobs, totaling about 769,000 by the end of 2015, experienced “a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 6% since 2012,” while “fossil fuel extraction and support services slumped, with a -4.25% CAGR over the same period.”

Market forces are driving this phenomenon, due to dramatic reductions in manufacturing and installation costs, coupled with stagnant demand for oil and coal. Unsubsidized solar is now as cheap as coal and natural gas and even wind in emerging markets, and solar prices will continue to rapidly fall.

What’s more, these renewable energy jobs cannot be outsourced due to their on-site nature and they pay above average wages.

“Many jobs in the solar and energy efficiency space are in installation, maintenance and construction, making these jobs inherently local and contributing to the growth of local economies. Average wages for energy efficiency jobs are almost $5,000 above the national median, and wages for solar workers are above the national median of $17.04 per hour.”

Sustainability jobs – meaning those in energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as in waste reduction, natural resources conservation and environmental education – now total 4-4.5 million in the U.S., up from 3.4 million in 2011.

READ MORE:  Dog Rescuer Visited By Homeland Security for Making Facebook Posts About Cops Shooting Dogs

Energy efficiency jobs represent about half of these jobs at 2.2 million, the majority of which are in small businesses with 10 employees or fewer. Investing in this sector is wise, as “energy efficiency investments create more jobs than those in fossil fuel industries: estimated at approximately 8 jobs (direct and indirect) per $1M invested compared to about 3 jobs in fossil fuels.”

As we reported in January, the solar industry employed more people in electricity generation than gas, coal and oil combined. Cheap solar and natural gas prices – not government policy – have been driving coal out of the market since 2006.

Trillions of dollars will be invested worldwide in clean energy over the coming decades, and utility companies in the U.S. have already focused on clean energy due to a variety of factors including the predicted continual drop in prices.

All of this means that any efforts by the Trump administration and new Congress to prop up fossil fuels and stymie clean energy would bring a severe detriment to economic and job growth. Trump has been harping on ‘bringing back coal jobs,’ but as Bloomberg News points out, “renewable energy provides five times more jobs than coal mines.”

Not to mention the fact that mountaintop removal – the preferred method of coal companies – obliterates vast swaths of forested habitat and fills streams and valleys with toxic waste. The pollution from coal mining degrades the health of nearby communities where coal miners live. The health impact of fossil fuel burning is estimated at $74.6 billion every year.

READ MORE:  What I Don’t Like About Life in the American Police State

Bloomberg notes that solar and wind jobs, totaling more than 300,000 in the U.S. in 2016, are “a significant source of employment in many of the rural red states that supported Donald Trump’s campaign.”

“We’re hiring workers in the rust belt,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “We’re helping families keep farms they’ve held for generations. The lifeblood of our industry is in rural America.”

Most indications at the moment are that Trump and his cadre of fossil fuel advocates set to run federal agencies plan to cut clean energy research and development programs. While the free market will continue pushing our energy paradigm toward renewable energy, a federal government working against the tide could mean that the U.S. misses out on the economic opportunity of the clean energy revolution.

In 2016, Solar Employed More People in Electricity Generation Than Gas, Coal, & Oil COMBINED

A new U.S. Energy and Employment Report is providing yet another indication that our energy paradigm is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels. The most promise for jobs lies in clean energy, with solar jobs in particular rising at a tremendous rate.

The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s second annual report found that, in 2016, solar employment was almost double that of fossil fuel employment in the Electric Power Generation sector.

“Proportionally, solar employment accounts for the largest share of workers in the Electric Power Generation sector. This is largely due to the construction related to the significant buildout of new solar generation capacity. Solar technologies, both photovoltaic and concentrating, employ almost 374,000 workers, or 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation workforce. This is followed by fossil fuel generation employment, which accounts for 22 percent of total Electric Power Generation employment and supports 187,117 workers across coal, oil, and natural gas generation technologies.

Rising employment in solar, wind, and natural gas coincides with the shift in energy generation by source, especially given recent large-scale distributed and utility-scale solar capacity additions.”

The total number of jobs in the Traditional Energy and Efficiency sectors was 6.4 million for 2016, which includes: 1) electric power generation and fuels, 2) transmission, distribution and storage, 3) energy efficiency, and 4) motor vehicles.

More than 300,000 new jobs were added across the entire spectrum, making up about 14 percent of total jobs created in the country. The report notes that the “solar workforce increased by 25% in 2016, while wind employment increased by 32%.”

READ MORE:  First of Its Kind Study Shows that Change in Diet Alone — Not Drugs — is Curing Diseases

These revealing job numbers mirror dramatic shifts going on in the sources for electricity generation, driven by crashing solar prices and the fracking boom which led to a glut of natural gas. Cheap solar and natural gas prices – not government policy – have been driving coal out of the market since 2006.

“…net generation from coal sources declined by 53 percent between 2006 and September 2016, while electricity generation from natural gas increased by 33 percent and solar by over 5,000 percent—from 508,000 MWh to just over 28,000,000 MWH.”

The report comes on the heels of news that unsubsidized solar is now cheaper than fossil fuels in many countries for large-scale electricity generation. Solar prices will continue dropping, and within a decade or two solar energy will be half the cost of coal or natural gas.

This transition is being driven by market forces, as Bloomberg highlighted in late 2015. Their analysis shows that within 25 years, solar will be the primary electricity source as it outcompetes natural gas and coal on every level.

Speaking of subsidies, the U.S. fossil fuels receive about $37 billion a year in subsidies. The only industry that will be reliant on government to prop it up in the near future is the fossil fuel industry. The cost of fossil fuels also does not include the cost to human health from pollution, estimated at $75 billion per year, and the cost of military protection of overseas oil, which amounts to about $30 billion per year.

According to the DOE report, three sources of energy made up 93 percent of new additions to the energy grid in 2016, with solar coming first at 9.5 GW. Natural gas added 8 GW and wind energy added 6.8 GW).

“In fact, between September 2015 and September 2016 alone, distributed solar photovoltaic generation increased 35 percent nationwide, while estimated total solar—both utility-scale and distributed generation—increased by 52 percent across the country.”

While market forces are driving a remarkable shift toward clean energy in the power grid, transportation remains firmly dependent on oil. But transportation too will be experiencing a remarkable shift in coming years, as automakers such as Ford Motor Company are set to invest billions in electric vehicles. A breakthrough technology called an ‘artificial leaf’ – which turns sunlight into hydrocarbon fuel – will further revolutionize our transportation paradigm.

READ MORE:  Drug War is Crumbling -- Town Converts Prison into Cannabis Grow Facility

World markets have firmly indicated that the future is clean energy, with trillions of dollars in investments coming over the next few decades. The new jobs report tells us that solar and wind energy provide the best opportunity for job growth in the U.S.

China got the message, and just announced it will invest $361 billion over the next three years in clean energy, marking a major turn away from coal.

President Trump has repeatedly called for using his power to ‘bring back the coal industry,’ but doing so would be in complete contravention of market forces and would be a great disservice to Americans looking for jobs.

If the new administration and Congress continue with their obsession over fossil fuels – and the antipathy toward clean energy – it could mean America loses out in the massive economic opportunity that is clean energy.