Government spending on cleantech generates three times as many jobs as oil and gas

[n2doc]

BY CHRISTOPHER MIMS
13 JUN 2011 10:58 AM
Cleantech generates 17 jobs for every $1 million spent on it, compared to just 5 for every $1 million we throw at an oil and gas industry that doesn't need it but will fight to its dying breath to preserve the government largesse shoring up its bottom line.

Cleantech even generates more jobs than that other favored son of Congressional earmarks, military spending, which yields only 11 jobs for every $1 million in subsidies.

*Robert Pollin, an economist who studied the impact of green stimulus dollars for the Commerce Department, said clean energy gets a better payoff because kick-starting a new industry requires a lot of manpower.

*"There's way more jobs in clean energy because essentially there's a lot more construction jobs, there's a lot more manufacturing jobs, there's a lot more transportation jobs," he said. "So it's really the process of building the new industry that makes it a good generator of jobs."

http://www.grist.org/list/2011-06-13-government-spending-on-cleantech-generates-3-times-as-many-jobs-

[kristopher]

1. It also results in more permanent jobs involved in operations and maint.

The largest expense for renewables is the up front costs, and since there are no fuel costs, O&M ranks next. On a per/kwh basis, renewables spends more than centralized thermal for labor by about 40-60% IIRC, which is more than offset by the lack of fuel cost.

Those are local jobs too, for the most part.

[Scuba]

2. K & R Thanks for posting!