Report: California Would Gain $60 Billion in Economic Benefit, 200,000 Jobs by Investing in Renewable Energy

Published on Aug 19, 2008 - 9:05:43 AM

By: Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies

Aug. 15, 2008 - The Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) is releasing Harvesting California's Renewable Energy Resources: A Green Jobs Business Plan, authored by renewable energy expert Peter Asmus. The report will be available on CEERT's web site: http://www.cleanpower.org.

The report surveys all major studies to date on renewable energy's potential for job creation in California. It concludes that if California obtained one third of its electric power from renewable sources by 2020, as much as $60 billion would be pumped into the state economy and state manufacturing employment could increase by some 200,000 jobs. Under every methodology examined, development of the state's abundant renewable energy resources - solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass - would create more than six times as many jobs as continued reliance on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.

More importantly, these jobs cannot be shipped overseas because the renewable energy resources are located in California, and the work of harvesting them must take place here within our state's borders. Rising fossil fuel prices have helped create a vibrant global renewable technologies industry with the potential to rival the jobcreation vitality of Silicon Valley. But California has relinquished its lead in innovation in renewable energy to places like Texas, Germany and Spain. This regression is particularly poignant today, as America struggles with giant trade deficits and California's statewide unemployment rate has climbed above the national average to 6.9 percent.

As the report highlights, the state urgently needs new, wellcrafted laws and regulations that will promote investment in renewable energy and strip away the bureaucratic red tape that is stifling development. Of the 5,900 MW of renewable power mandated by the state's 2002 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), only 400 MW are online today. The first step is to establish tougher goals - notably an increase in the state's to require that 33 percent of the state's electric generation come from renewable sources by 2020 - and the tools needed to reach them.

Harvesting California's Renewable Energy Resources details the reforms needed to meet those goals: upgrading and integrating California's electrical transmission system; more incentives and stronger enforcement for RPS compliance; and creating the necessary pricing structure to support renewable energy development. Constructive action from state's leaders on these issues will open up enormous investment in a sustainable energy system for the future and bring jobs to economically depressed rural and urban counties throughout California.

By substituting people's labor and modern technology for imported fuels, California has the opportunity to generate massive economic development benefits and hundreds of thousands of permanent, stable jobs for its citizens, including those at the bottom of the economic ladder, while at the same time combating global warming and enhancing national energy security. Harvesting California's Renewable Energy Resource is a road map that can lead California to a vibrant, sustainable new economy.

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