According to a new study entitled "Jobs Impact of a National Renewable Electricity Standard" conducted by the independent firm Navigant Consulting and commissioned by the RES‐Alliance for Jobs, the renewable energy industry would support 274,000 more jobs with a 25% by 2025 national RES than it would without one.
The study found that new jobs would be supported by renewable energy in every region of the United States and that the biomass, hydropower and waste-to-energy industries, in particular, would see significant job gains in the Southeast.
Without a strong national RES and stronger near-term targets than currently envisioned, the study found that many states (North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware) would actually lose clean energy jobs, and industries like wind would experience flat job growth and long-term stagnation, while the US biomass industry could collapse altogether.
Aggressive near-term targets needed
While 37 countries around the world, including China and all of the European Union member countries, have set renewable energy targets, US policy has lagged behind. The authors of the report therefore warn that more ambitious near‐term RES targets of 12% by 2014 and 20% by 2020 are critical to the US’s global competitiveness. Without these aggressive near‐term renewable targets, other countries will attract the growing renewable energy manufacturing sector away from the US.
A strong long‐term target, such as the 25% by 2025 analysed in the study, is then needed to attract long‐term manufacturing investment and project development. While production tax credits are critical to the survival and growth of many renewable electricity technologies, the hard targets in a national RES ensure a growing market demand for renewable power. Manufacturers rely on these long‐term market signals to make significant capital investments in new facilities.
“A target like 25 percent by 2025 would allow American wind companies to support double the amount of jobs than without a policy – about 125,000 additional jobs. That's a gain our country cannot afford to pass up,” Don Furman, senior vice president for development, transmission and policy at Iberdrola Renewables, told Renewable Energy World.
Others, however, are more cautious. "There's no question that if you have a national standard, you'll see an increase in green jobs," Max Schulz, analyst at the Manhattan Institute, a free-market think tank, told USA Today. "But you'll also have harmful effects."
Renewable energy also remains more expensive than coal. Mandates that drive up its use could result in higher energy prices, which could result in lost jobs, says Schulz.
The publication of this latest study coincided with President Barack Obama’s announcement of a series of steps his Administration is taking as part of its comprehensive strategy to enhance American energy independence and job creation by boosting biofuel production.
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