Wind Energy Jobs Surpass Coal Mining Jobs
Todd Woody reported last week that the wind energy industry now employs more people than coal mining. That is 85,000 jobs in wind - a 70% increase from 2007 - to coal mining’s 81,000 jobs.
Not bad for an industry that is expected to continue to grow, even if not at the levels of the last year when wind accounted for 42% of new energy and experienced a 50% increase in capacity. Plus, workers in the wind industry don’t get trapped in mines, contract black lung, or devastate entire communities by blowing up mountains.
While the coal industry overall provides double the number of jobs as wind, it is important to note, as A. Siegel does at Get Energy Smart NOW!, that coal accounts for about 50% of our energy output and wind currently makes up 2% of our energy output. As a result, it only makes sense in terms of the environment and the economy to invest in wind while making coal-fired power plants jump through more regulatory hoops. Just do the numbers and it is clear that increasing wind energy output while decreasing coal energy output results in a net gain in jobs - clean, green jobs.
