Why Clean Energy Will Create Jobs AND Help The Environment: A Look At California University's College of Natural Resources 2009 Executive Summary

Whether it's on Capitol Hill in Washington, or a neighborhood gathering, a popular topic for debate is whether clean energy could create jobs in the United States. Those who support investment in alternative energy resources will argue that it will while those against often argue that the jobs will continue to come from overseas

However, if you read California University's Executive Summary of 2009, you will learn that investing in clean energy will indeed create jobs.

Written by David Roland‐Holst and Friedrich Kahrl, the summary details the fact that clean energy investment will help create jobs in all 50 states, with a potential growth of up to nearly two million new positions.

As the authors state in their findings, "All 50 states can gain economically from
strong federal energy and climate policy, despite the diversity of their economies and
energy mixes."

The assessment done by Roland-Hols and Kahrl frequently mentions federal clean energy that was passed in the U.S. House Of Representatives called the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES)

The ACES bill estimated that over 78,000 jobs would have been created in Pennsylvania alone and over 198,000 in the Mid-Atlantic region. In addition to jobs being created in the U.S., the new energy would have lowered the dependence on foreign energy. As the study says, "By shifting to domestic renewable substitutes, the Western states can reduce their long term external energy dependence.

Certainly when discussing the advantages to clean energy, you'll look to how it will benefit the environment. The ACES bill would have required that electric utility companies meet 20% of their sales using alternative energy by the year 2020 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions 83% by 2050. As said in the article, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by such a large percentage would have been a "fundamental transformation of the U.S. energy system."

Though the U.S. Senate proposed a bill known as the American Power Act, it was ultimately never voted on, and no federal legislation was passed. But with over 68% of the American population supporting this type of legislation, there is still hope that we will see something similar to the ACES bill passed in the near future.

Graph 1: Greenhouse Gas Emission
Reduction under the ACES bill.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/support-for-federal-backing-of-renewables-slips-driven-by-gop-skepticism/2011/11/10/gIQA97kX9M_story.html

http://are.berkeley.edu/~dwrh/CERES_Web/Docs/ES_DRHFK091024.pdf