Solar industry now employs twice as many Americans as coal? And this is good?
It is remarkable how often we hear the claim that “the solar industry now employs twice as many Americans as coal”. And, more often than not, as a cause of celebration.
The latest to make the comparison is Josh Bayliss chief executive officer of Virgin Group, in a free advert article in the Telegraph yesterday:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/06/trump-never-grasped-paris-agreement-deal-not-threat/
As we know, many, probably the vast majority, of these jobs are involved with installing solar panels, and therefore will be transitory.
But to the extent that these jobs are permanent, just what does that tell us?
Solar power output in the US was just 9 Mtoe in 2015, 0.4% of total energy consumption. On a pro-rata basis, if the US relied solely on solar, the industry would be employing 650 million people, double the entire population!
In comparison, coal production equated to 455 Mtoe.
I have said this before, but I am at a loss to understand how otherwise intelligent people, like the boss of Virgin, lose all semblance of common sense and reality, whenever climate change is mentioned.
Read more at Not A Lot of People Know That
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