Creation Care Mom

One of the biggest arguments that the Republican party uses for the promotion of coal, oil, and natural gas development is economic. Usually, it’s about jobs or its about cost. Either way, they want you to believe that moving beyond fossil fuels will be financially detrimental. They’re wrong. Here’s why.

We do not pay the full price for our use of fossil fuels when we consume them. We pay for the cost of the fuel and we pay fees for transmission and taxes of course. But no where in your electric bill will you find fees for the increased health care burden because of the burning of fossil fuels. At the gas pump, you aren’t charged a pollution fee. Turning on your gas stove, doesn’t come with a natural disaster resilience fee. Instead of paying those costs on our bills, we are paying them in other ways, through higher insurance, taxes, and federal/state debt. Because of how its disguised, it’s hard to see the financial burden of continuing to consume fossil fuels, but more and more statistics are revealing the true cost. The billions of dollars in indirect costs savings will benefit us all.

There are approximately twice as many jobs in the clean energy sector as there are in the fossil fuel energy sector. This gap will only continue to grow as renewable energy grows. Both sectors generally have a similar starting wage and benefits. Clean energy jobs include manufacturing, installation and maintenance of wind, solar, and geothermal projects. Depending on the data they may also include nuclear and hydropower jobs. Additionally, many jobs are found in the area of energy efficiency, improving existing buildings, to reduce energy consumption. This may look like the installation of heat pumps or EV chargers. Eventually, there will be jobs in recycling of spent turbine blades and broken solar panels. It is true that many of these projects require fewer people to operate and maintain (compared to coal and gas), but as the baby boomer generation retires the smaller upcoming generations are incapable of filling all of their positions.

As research and development continues in small scale nuclear and deep earth geothermal, we are seeing the potential to re-employ those who have lost jobs in the oil and gas industry. Many jobs at these types of facilities will be very similar as they simply employ a different heat source to create steam to power turbines. Deploying these generation technologies in communities with coal or gas plants closing gives us the chance at an equitable transition and the benefit of using existing transmission infrastructure. You can read about an example of this here.

Another area where jobs are contentious is vehicle manufacturing. It is known that EVs require fewer people to assemble and require much less maintenance. Jobs will be lost in auto manufacturing and auto repair. However, as we grow our EV network, we will see a rise in jobs for the installation and maintenance of EV chargers both at home and on the road. Currently, we are seeing huge investment in the development of the next generation of batteries, both for EV use and the grid. Farther along, we will see an increase in jobs related to battery deconstruction and recycling. The precious metals within will be too expensive to waste.

Which brings us to another area of job creation. The world of the future will have to design products with a circular rather than linear use. This reimagining of all the things we use in our world will take time, but it will be vital to a better stewardship of our resources, and our energy usage. So there will be job openings in the way of design, waste mitigation, repair, and recycling and repurposing. One products waste may find itself useful as a feed in material for a different product. The skies the limit. We just need to reimagine.

There will be jobs lost, but there will also be jobs gained, likely more than we can imagine.

Lets move away from jobs for a moment. One of the best benefits of renewable energy is the the “fuel” is free. We are paying only for the ability to capture, store, and transmit the energy. As we become better at building renewable projects, the costs will fall even more. Fossil fuels are known as non-renewable for a reason. We will eventually run out. As supplies dry up, costs will soar. Transitioning to renewable energy now will avert those higher prices in the future. Additionally, most oil reserves are held by countries that in general “hate” the USA. Yet, we’ve had little choice but to send dollars their way. Being beheld to their whims, has driven us to drill more oil from our national stores, but we could also achieve independence through deployment of renewables. Those countries tend to depend on oil revenue, often using it in ways we despise. Without the income from petrol, these petrol-dictatorships will almost certainly fall.

So when the next politician starts bashing on the economic risks of renewable energy development, you are now equipped for the discussion that will hopefully follow.