Green Jobs and the Ethics of Energy - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 139

available for future use, with the rate of fi nding new resources reaching a peak and
then falling. However, there is also a wide range of continually renewed energy
sources, mostly based on incoming solar energy, which can be used without deplet-
ing reserves. A range of technologies has emerged to capture these renewable energy
fl ows, and a transition to a sustainable energy future based on their use, coupled
with energy effi ciency measures to reduce demand, seems both feasible and likely.
I look at the economics of some of the technologies and then at some of the wider
strategic choices ahead in terms of their deployment, with employment issues being
one factor.
The relationship between investment and employment creation is a complex one,
as I try to show by a review of some existing studies of impacts on the energy sector.
There are debates about the total numbers and net of jobs lost by the transition away
from reliance on the existing energy sources. However, what is perhaps more rele-
vant, from an ethical perspective, is the type and duration of the new jobs. I explore
the emerging trade union view that what is needed is a 'just transition' to properly
paid, sustainable employment with good conditions. We do need to change the way
we produce and use energy, and the change will create new jobs, but we surely do
not want jobs at any cost.

2 The Changing Energy Context

Energy is vital for heating, transport, food production and many other key services.
Initially human beings focussed on heating, using wood, but subsequently discov-
ered fossil fuels in the ground and learnt how to use them for heating, to power
vehicles and for electricity production. However, there are risks with extracting and
using energy resources. Ever since human beings discovered how to make fi re by
burning wood, there have been injuries and deaths. As other fuels (coal, then oil and
natural gas) came into use, along with more sophisticated techniques for converting
them into useful energy, the risks have grown, culminating in perhaps the most risky
option, electricity generation using nuclear technology.
In the fi rst instance, it is those who collect the fuels who are most at risk - coal
miners, uranium miners, oil and gas rig workers and so on. But those who work in
power stations are also at risk, from everyday incidents as well as major accidents.
Occupational health and safety issues have been addressed over the years, with
varying degrees of rigour, and we have also tried to reduce the health impacts on the
wider community of fossil and nuclear fuel use but with limited success.
An OECD review reported that between 1969 and 2000 there were 1,870 acci-
dents causing fi ve or more 'prompt' deaths in energy industries in OECD member
countries, resulting in 81,258 deaths (OECD 2010 ). The vast majority of these occu-
pational deaths will have been due to fossil fuel-related operations, but the total
included 31 workers who died as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.
However, given the long-lasting health concerns in areas affected by Chernobyl, the
OECD quote a fi gure of 9,000-33,000 eventual deaths in the wider community,