This means that, on average, more jobs are created for each unit of electricity generated from renewable sources than from fossil fuels.
Renewable energy already supports thousands of jobs in the United States. In 2016, the wind energy industry directly employed over 100,000 full-time-equivalent employees in various capacities, including manufacturing, project development, construction, turbine installation, operations and maintenance, transportation and logistics, and financial, legal, and consulting services [10]. More than 500 factories in the United States manufacture parts for wind turbines, and wind power project installations in 2016 alone represented $13.0 billion in investments [11].
Other renewable energy technologies employ even more workers. For example, in 2016, the solar industry employed more than 260,000 people, including solar installation, manufacturing, and sales, a 25% increase over 2015 [12]. In addition, the hydroelectric power industry employed approximately 66,000 people in 2017 [13]; the geothermal industry employed 5,800 people.
Increased support for renewable energy could create even more jobs. For example, the 2009 Union of Concerned Scientists study of a 25-percent-by-2025 renewable energy standard found that such a policy would create more than three times as many jobs (more than 200,000) as producing an equivalent amount of electricity from fossil fuels [15].
In contrast, the entire coal industry employed 160,000 people in 2016.
In addition to the jobs directly created in the renewable energy industry, growth in clean energy can create positive economic “ripple” effects. For example, industries in the renewable energy supply chain will benefit, and unrelated local businesses will benefit from increased household and business incomes [16].
Local governments also benefit from clean energy, most often in property and income taxes and other payments from renewable energy project owners. Owners of the land on which wind projects are built often receive lease payments ranging from $3,000 to $6,000 per megawatt of installed capacity, as well as payments for power line easements and road rights-of-way. They may also earn royalties based on the project’s annual revenues. In addition, farmers and rural landowners can generate new sources of supplemental income by producing feedstocks for biomass power facilities.
UCS analysis found that a 25-by-2025 national renewable electricity standard would stimulate $263.4 billion in new capital investment for renewable energy technologies, $13.5 billion in new landowner income from? Biomass production and wind land lease payments, and $11.5 billion in new property tax revenue for local communities [17].
Stable energy prices
Renewable energy provides affordable electricity across the country right now and can help stabilize energy prices in the future.
Although renewable facilities require upfront investments to build, they can operate at a very low cost (the “fuel” is free). As a result, renewable energy prices can be very stable over time.
Moreover, the costs of renewable energy technologies have declined steadily and are projected to drop even more. For example, the average price to install solar dropped more than 70 percent between 2010 and 2017 [20]. Likewise, the cost of generating electricity from wind dropped 66 percent between 2009 and 2016 [21]. Moreover, costs will likely decline even further as markets mature and companies increasingly take advantage of economies of scale.