Climate 411

The Green Jobs You’ve Been Hearing About

Jackie Roberts The thought of revitalizing the economy with green jobs is inspiring, but how will it actually work? What will those jobs look like? Duke University just released a study that starts to answer that question. It looks at five industries, including LED lighting and concentrating solar power. For each, researchers asked what the value chain is and how jobs could be created.

And right on the heels of that study is this story from CBS News: Former Maytag employees in Iowa are finding new manufacturing jobs making parts for windmills. It’s a great example of the connection between climate solutions and U.S. jobs.

Jackie Roberts is our director for sustainable technologies.

Posted in Economics, Energy / Read 9 Responses

New Jobs from Clean Energy Can Revitalize the Economy

Jackie RobertsThis post is by Jackie Roberts, director of sustainable technologies at Environmental Defense Fund.

In the midst of reports of six straight months of U.S. job losses, there were two reports on a more hopeful note:

The Worldwatch Institute finding that green economy jobs were increasing as other jobs declined was part of their Vital Signs Update. From Senior Researcher Michael Renner:

Renewables are poised to tackle our energy crisis and create millions of new jobs worldwide.

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Posted in Economics / Read 1 Response

Mapping the Green Economy

Jackie RobertsThis post is by Jackie Roberts, director of sustainable technologies at Environmental Defense Fund.

Shifting to a low-carbon economy means creating renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. This will take a lot of work, but in a good sense. We’ll see increased investment, new businesses, and new products to manufacture — the creation of many new jobs.

The ball won’t start rolling in earnest until the U.S. passes cap-and-trade legislation, but movement has already started. For example, check out this map we created of green businesses and their suppliers in Ohio:

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