Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
displaced workers. Worker displacement is not a new phenomenon
and has happened repeatedly in the nation's history because of new
technologies. Whalers laid down their harpoons and found other pro-
fessions during the transition to petroleum oil and then electricity for
lighting. Blacksmiths lost most of their business when metal objects
could be mass-produced and the automobile replaced the horse and
wagon as the dominant method of transportation. Farmers were forced
to retrain as their numbers dropped from a high of 29 million in
1900 to under 1 million today. Movie careers ended for many foreign-
born stars with thick accents when “talkies” replaced silent fi lms in
1929. Many radio celebrities were unable to adapt to the visual medium
of television in the 1940s and 1950s and had to fi nd new occupations.
The occupational displacements resulting from the change from fossil
fuels to alternative sources of energy is simply the latest in an unend-
ing stream of such displacements. These are the realities of employment
in a vibrant and ever-changing economy.
In fact, the transition to alternative energy sources will have a net
benefi t in terms of job numbers. 6 According to estimates by the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and the Renewable Energy Policy Project,
solar energy generates thirty-two jobs per megawatt, and wind produces
approximately six to nine jobs per megawatt, whereas natural gas and
coal create only two to two-and-a-half jobs per megawatt. As of Septem-
ber 2009 about 85,000 people were employed in the wind energy indus-
try, up from 50,000 only a year earlier. These employment numbers are
in addition to the tens of thousands of jobs that will be created by reno-
vation of the nation's electricity transmission grid. The nation has many
reasons to welcome the era of alternative energy: cleaner air, cleaner
water, cleaner soil, and an increased job market.
Energy from Plants: Biological Energy
Biomass currently provides 53 percent of the renewable energy in the
United States, more than half of it directly from wood and the remainder
from biofuels, municipal solid waste, and animal manure. Energy from
plants, from algae to trees, is forecast to be the fastest-growing energy
source between now and 2030, increasing from 40 billion kilowatt-hours
to 230 billion kilowatt-hours. Biomass can be used for power produc-
tion, fuels, and products that would otherwise be made from fossil fuels.
The burning of biomass releases about the same amount of carbon
dioxide as burning fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels release carbon
dioxide captured by photosynthesis tens or hundreds of millions of years
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