Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience

This is from the American Enterprise Institute. Go to The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience by Kenneth P. Green. Excerpts:

"Key points in this Outlook:

-The Obama administration, its allies in Congress, and the environmental community champion the benefits of green technology and the creation of green jobs to alleviate unemployment.

-Green jobs merely replace jobs in other sectors and actually contribute less to economic growth.

-Experiments with renewable energy in Europe have led to job loss, higher energy prices, and corruption"

Here is a summary of what happened, for example, in Spain.

"-Since 2000, Spain spent 571,138 euros on each green job, including subsidies of more than 1 million euros per job in the wind industry.

-The programs creating those jobs destroyed nearly 110,500 jobs elsewhere in the economy (2.2 jobs destroyed for every green job created).

-The high cost of electricity mainly affects production costs and levels of employment in metallurgy, nonmetallic mining and food processing, and beverage and tobacco industries.

-Each "green" megawatt installed destroys 5.28 jobs elsewhere in the economy on average.

-These costs do not reflect Spain's particular approach but rather the nature of schemes to promote renewable energy sources."

The results have been similar in other European countries. Here is Mr. Green's conclusion:

"Both economic theory and the experience of European countries that have attempted to build a green-energy economy that will create green jobs reveal that such thinking is deeply fallacious. Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark have all tried and failed to accomplish positive outcomes with renewable energy. Some will suggest that the United States is different, and that US planners will have the wisdom to make the green economy work here. But there is no getting around the fact that you do not improve your economy or create jobs by breaking windows, and US planners are no more omniscient than those in Europe."

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