4,000 jobs possible in renewable energy: study
The Blue-Green Alliance of the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers is calling for a national requirement of 15 percent renewable electricity by 2020. The Renewable Electricity Standard is part of the energy bill before Congress.
At a press event using the Steel Winds wind farm on Lake Erie as a backdrop, local environmental and labor advocates said policies to encourage renewable energy can help create parts-making jobs, as well as construction, assembly and maintenance work.
The study, by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, estimates the economic impact of adding 185,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity nationally over 10 years. There are 167 companies in Erie County poised to benefit by supplying wind, solar, geothermal and biomass generating industries, it said.
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'That can keep you up at night': Lessons for Canada from Europe's power crisis
TORONTO - Europe is currently suffering the consequences of an uncoordinated rush to carbon-free electricity that experts warn could hit Canada as well unless urgent action is taken.
Power prices in Germany, for example, hit a record 91 euros ($135 CAD) per megawatt-hour earlier this month. That is more than triple what electricity costs in Ontario, even during periods of peak demand.
Experts blame the price spikes in large part on a chaotic transition to a specific set of renewable electricity sources - wind and solar - at the expense of other carbon-free supplies such as nuclear power. Germany, Europe’s largest economy,…
