Jobs — Fossil Fuels Vs. Renewables Laser Talk

In 2012, there were a total of 137,650 permanent coal-related jobs nationwide [1], and 806,831 oil and gas jobs as of 2011 [2]. By contrast, there were 3,401,279 green jobs in 2011 [3].  The Department of Energy predicts using conservative estimates that by 2030 there will be over half a million wind jobs alone [4].

Renewable energy provides more jobs than fossil fuels

The overall job story is that renewable energy will provide more and higher paying jobs, with more diverse opportunities [5].

This is because $1 million dollars worth of oil and natural gas output directly creates 0.8 jobs, and $1 million of coal produces 1.9 jobs. Compare that to building retrofits for energy efficiency (7 jobs per million), mass transit services (11 jobs), building the smart grid (4.3), wind (4.6), solar (5.4), and biomass power generation (7.4) [6].

The green economy already supports more jobs than the fossil fuel economy, and has for years, even though renewable energy accounts for only 11.98% of our domestically produced energy [7].

The writing is on the wall: the key to creating American jobs now and in the future is not investment in fossil fuels, it is investment in the green economy.