The renewable energy industry would support 274,000 more jobs with a 25%-by-2025 national renewable electricity standard (RES) than it would without one, according to a new study conducted by Navigant Consulting for RES-Alliance for Jobs.
This additional employment would be equivalent to 2.36 million additional job?years by 2025.
New jobs would be supported by renewable energy development in every region in the US. For example, the biomass, hydropower and waste-to?energy industries would see significant job gains in the southeastern United States under a strong national policy.
The study found that the long?term market stability fostered by a national renewable electricity standard is essential to the global competitiveness of the U.S. renewable energy manufacturing and development sectors in the near? and long?term, and many states would actually lose clean energy jobs without a strong national RES.
North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio,
South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware are among the states expected to shed jobs without an RES.
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The U.S. Senate Democratic caucus meets today to discuss how to move forward with energy legislation in the weeks ahead. The Obama administration has said that passing a comprehensive energy bill this summer is its top legislative priority after completing Wall Street reforms.
However, President Obama did not mention capping carbon emissions during his prime-time speech Tuesday night, an omission that means climate measure are a no-go for this year, according to a Politico story at the link below.
