Celebrating Earth Day With Green Jobs

Know Five Things
1. Job Creation

• A study by RAND and the University of Tennessee concluded that “if 25% of all American energy were produced from renewable sources by 2025, we would generate at least 5 million new green jobs.” [Time Magazine]

• The Jobs: A study by the Center for American Progress shows spending $100 billion on a Green Recovery program over two years would create 2 million new jobs, a significant portion of which would fall in the struggling construction and manufacturing sectors. [CAP]

2. Green Jobs = Efficient Investment

• Investment in renewable energy sectors creates more jobs than in traditional energy sectors. The Apollo Alliance reports “renewable energy creates more jobs than coal: the same investment creates 50% more jobs in wind and in solar than in coal. Energy efficiency is far more labor intensive than generation, creating 21.5 jobs for every $1 million invested, compared to 11.5 jobs for new natural gas generation.” [Apollo Alliance]

• They also save money for everyone. According to a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Americans can â��significantly reduce carbon emissions and lower energy billsâ�� by implementing green economy legislation that would reduce emissions by 56% below 2005 levels by 2030.

• According to UCS, if that happened, “the average U.S. household would enjoy a net savings of $900 on its energy bills, including $580 on transportation (fuel, vehicle and driving) costs and $320 on electricity, natural gas and heating oil, after investing in home efficiency improvements. Businesses collectively would realize net energy bill savings of $130 billion.” [UCS]

3. The Housing Example

• According to the Department of Energy, the recent stimulus package contains more than $11 billion to help people upgrade their homes to be more energy efficient. [CNN]

• From the Apollo Alliance: “The second leading cause of foreclosures for low-income homeowners is unanticipated utility bills.” [Apollo Alliance]

• From the Apollo Alliance: “New homes constructed to meet the 30% increased efficiency goal will save the average homeowner $512 a year. With a million homes constructed each year, that equals a savings for homeowners of $10.2 billion in energy costs over the next twenty years.” [Apollo Alliance]

4. Companies Going Green

• A new survey by Career Builders reports “one-in-ten employers say they have added ‘green jobs,’ otherwise known as environmentally-focused positions, in the last 12 months.” [PR Newswire]

• Also, the survey found “Seventy percent of companies say they have added programs to be more environmentally conscious in the last year.” These include: Recycling (50 percent), Using less paper (45 percent) and Powering down computers at the end of the day (30 percent)

5. Falling Behind

• China Pulls Ahead: Chinaâ��s leaders are investing $12.6 million every hour to green their economy. In fact, a recent analysis by HSBC Global Research “projects that nearly 40 percent of Chinaâ��s proposed $586 billion stimulus planâ��$221 billion over two yearsâ��is going toward public investment in renewable energy, low-carbon vehicles, high-speed rail, an advanced electric grid, efficiency improvements, and other water-treatment and pollution controls.” That’s “more than six times Americaâ��s green stimulus spending as a percentage of our respective economies.” [CAP]

• U.S. Falls Behind: According to the most recent data from the Renewable Energy Policy Network, the U.S. invests less in renewable energy than China or the EU-25. The entire United States “invests less in renewable energy per year than the country of Germany, which boasts less than one-third the population of the United States and an economy less than one-fourth our size.” [CAP]

• U.S. corporations: In testimony in front of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, venture capitalist John Doerr pointed out, â��If you list todayâ��s top 30 companies in solar, wind and advanced batteries, American companies hold only 6 spots. That fact should worry us all.â�� [Senate Committee testimony]

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