New ASES Report Sees 4.5 Million Net Jobs Created by Clean Energy

So exactly how many jobs will be lost in this country, should we embrace the kind of energy and climate legislation that’s been tossed around in Congress since this spring?  We’ve heard all kinds of projections of catastrophic job losses from bill opponents, should we actually see these bills become law, not to mention the mythical $1761 per household that the Administration’s climate policies would cost, according to a certain Mr. Glenn Beck.

As these words are being typed, the first of three hearings conducted by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee this week is taking place.  The first witness, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), cited several studies indicating that jobs will proliferate in a clean energy economy.  He was followed by committee member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who used his opening statement to describe his vision of a flood of jobs exiting the United States.

Congresspersons from states heavily dependent on fossil fuel production, like Tennessee, are understandably under pressure from constituents who see a swing toward clean energy as a threat to their jobs.  But in wilfully seeing the employment glass as half-empty rather than half-full, these voters’ congressional legislators are doing them a disservice.  They must know that when the buggy-whip business died it was because a new industry, promising large-scale employment, was growing fast.

To give credit to the American people, they’re not buying the bad news, or at least, 68% of them aren’t, according to an August Zogby poll.  A smaller number believes that the clean energy economy will actually lead to significant job growth, even though the number of green jobs grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007 (Pew Charitable Trust report).

Weighing in on the positive side of the argument is a new report commissioned by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and released on October 22nd, which forecasts that the renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE & EE) industries will generate a net increase of 4.5 million jobs between now and the year 2030, while reducing U.S. carbon emissions by 60-80% and remaining revenue-neutral.

Brad Collins, executive director of ASES, described the report’s findings as proof that developing a green economy is a win-win situation.  “The twin challenges of climate change and economic stagnation can be solved by the same action—broad, aggressive, sustained deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency,” he said.  “The solution for one is the solution for the other.”

Specifics from the report include:

• The 4.5 million new jobs that RE & EE can deliver aren’t limited to certain regions or employment sectors;  they are widely dispersed throughout the U.S. in virtually occupations ranging from accountants to architects, electricians to cement masons, cashiers to civil engineers, drywall installers to farm laborers.  Most importantly in terms of combating the doomsayers, these new jobs are net jobs;  that is, the 4.5-million figure takes into account job losses occasioned by the transition to a clean energy economy.
• RE & EE technologies could displace approximately 1.2 billion tons of carbon emissions annually by 2030—the amount scientists believe is necessary to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change.
• Many of the projected jobs cannot easily be outsourced overseas, due to their on-site nature.
• The greatest numbers of RE jobs are generated by the solar PV, biofuels, biomass, and concentrating solar power sectors.

“For job growth the status quo is no match for innovation,” said Collins.  “Congress can help get the economy back on track with smart energy policy—reduce energy consumption in buildings by 50%, adopt an aggressive national renewable portfolio standard, commit to end dependence on foreign oil by 2025, and implement an upstream cap and auction system to manage greenhouse gases at the points where they first enter the energy economy.”