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Does Renewable Energy Affect the Job Market?

By admin,

Intersect Energy is seeing renewable energy boost the job market by adding thousands of new jobs across the country.

The job market in the U.S. has suffered instability for a substantial amount of time. Even though we have seen the employment rates increase in the previous four years, there is still a great need for higher paying jobs and full-time work.

Job Creation and Renewable Energy

Intersect Energy specializes in consulting and development services of distributed energy resources (DER).  We see the jobs the development of renewable energy systems is directly and indirectly creating. According to an article on fortune.com, renewable energy is creating jobs about 12 times faster than the rest of the economy. This is particularly accurate with the wind and solar industries, as the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Climate Corps Program says that the solar and wind jobs have grown about 20 percent annually in recent years.

According to usnews.com, the US wind and solar industries successfully employ over 300,000 people. The solar sector contains 209,000 workers, while wind industry has created over 88,000 new jobs. These numbers clearly prove that renewable energy has the capacity to add an abundant supply of new work.

Intersect Energy Helps Improve the Job Market

At Intersect Energy, we are involved in energy projects that create jobs and sustainable savings for decades. These are micro infrastructure projects that employ skilled laborers to build each DER system. The money saved on energy costs are reallocated by local businesses on new hires or capital infrastructure for expansion. In the case of DERs that involve Public and Government entities, in addition to the benefits of employment and capital projects, you see savings in a reduction in the need to new taxes to support those institutions.

The Positives

Renewable energy is having a positive effect on the job market in early 2018, even with the increased tariffs on imported solar panels. We are witnessing a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the job market. This is not only good for the environment and stability in the domestic energy market, but will prove to be a monumental stepping stone for many unemployed Americans in the next several years.

Intersect Energy is your source for renewable energy news and services regarding alternative energy on-site energy generation, energy reduction techniques, and government incentives and grants. For more information, contact us here!

Would Renewable Energy Change our Future?

By admin,

Renewable EnergyWhen it comes to the future of renewable energy, there is always a level of apprehension to grasp on to it, even if the idea is innovative and has the potential to change your life. The topic of transition to renewable energy has been thrown around for several years now, and while it has proven to be more than an effective alternative to the use of fossil fuels, the majority of people, businesses and our Government (Federal, State & Local) still are not fully embracing its use.

 

The Current State of Fossil Fuel

To fully comprehend how renewable energy could change our future, we must understand how fossil fuels are currently utilized in the U.S. According to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s website, the U.S. gets 81 percent of its total energy from oil, coal, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels. Coal is very abundant in the U.S. and is the cheapest to use. Intersect Energy provides alternative energy solutions, including on-site generation, reducing the demand for fossil fuels that negatively impact the environment while still reducing consumption costs.

The Costs of Renewable Energy

Spending and cost are always a contentious issue in creating Government policy and that is one of the biggest hurdles that renewable energy will have to face on the way to becoming mainstream. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists’ website, the average cost in 2017 to install solar systems went from $2,000 per kilowatt, for large-scale systems compared to a natural gas plant ranges from $1,000 to $1,700. If the government would choose to mandate the increase use of renewable energy, it would require higher capital expenditures to create new supplies of energy. Because of this difference, it requires government leadership to utilize strategic planning on deciding where renewable energy facilities would be utilized until such time the costs to install equalize.

However, more utilization of renewable energy could be offset by the Federal Government’s energy expenditures. According to Oil Change International’s website, it is estimated that subsidies to the U.S. fossil fuel industry range from $10 to $52 billion annually. Pursuing a renewable energy strategy could cut those figures down and the government would likely improve revenue collections by creating new jobs installing and maintaining new renewable facilities.

Moving Forward

The transition to renewable energy would not change our future overnight. The short term benefits of jobs, taxes and lower energy costs would be visible sooner than the long term benefits of lower greenhouse gases and strategic energy independence that our current dependency on fossil fuel creates. Intersect Energy leverages government incentives allocated for energy reduction, navigates government bureaucracies in creating energy cost savings for their clients. Intersect Energy would like to provide you with information on the pursuit of clean and renewable energy for your business. For more information on Intersect Energy, click here.