Russ Steele
I have been hearing a lot chatter about going green and green job in Nevada County. I heard some of that chatter at the last ERC Board meeting. Here is a reality check on green solar jobs from General Electric, who's CEO is a big Obama supporter and AGW cap and trade supporter.
I have been hearing a lot chatter about going green and green job in Nevada County. I heard some of that chatter at the last ERC Board meeting. Here is a reality check on green solar jobs from General Electric, who's CEO is a big Obama supporter and AGW cap and trade supporter.
General Electric Co. (GE) plans to shut down its only solar-panel manufacturing facility, as it found that prices for panels fell below production costs, Clean Technology Insight has learned…
The decision to shut down production was “mainly due to the challenges in the solar industry, including overcapacity levels that are twice demand and industry pricing that’s below the cost of producing the panels,” said Rocker…The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly known as the stimulus package, created a $2.3 billion program that gives manufacturers of renewable-energy components tax breaks. Several companies, including SolarWorld and Yingli, filed applications. Keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has been high on the agenda of local and federal governments.
But for the solar industry, that may not be the smartest move, as far as job creation goes.
If one looks at the entire labor chain of getting electricity to flow from a solar system, the majority of jobs are in installing the system, not in manufacturing the various components.
“If midstream can be performed abroad, at a lower cost, maybe we should let that happen,” said Cornelius, of Hudson Clean Energy Partners. “If you’re looking at it from a job-creation standpoint, the best thing we can have in the U.S. is very low-priced equipment that allows for a large number of installations.”
H/T to The Chilling Effect for the tip.
